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THE REY.W.HOUGHTON.

M.A.F.L.S.

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RITISH CrESH-WATER CiSHES.

MCZ LIBRARY
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
CAMBRIDGE. MA USA

British

Fresh-water Fishes

THE REV. W. HOUGHTON, M.A., F.L.S.

RI-XTOI! OF PRESTON-OS-THE-WKALD MOOUS. SHU'lPSIl IRK.

Author of "Sua-side Walk-^ nf a Naturalist,'' Jto.

1 1. 1. U S T R .\ T E D W I T H
A COLOURED FIGURE OF EACH SPECIE.S D R A W .V FROM NATURE HV A. F. I.YDON,

AND NU.MEROUb E N (J K A V 1 N G .S.

^LONDON:

WILLIAM MACKENZIE, 69, LUDGATE HILL, E.G.

EDINBURGH AND DUBLIN.

TO MY LONG-KNOWN AND HIGHLY-VALUED FRIEND

PROFESSOR GEORGE BUSK, E.R.S., E.L.S., &c., &c.,

ONE OF THE MOST EMINENT OF NATURALISTS

AND MOST GENEROUS OF MEN,

I DEDICATE THIS WORK.

•pREFACE.

~rT is hoped that this Work on the Fresh-water Fishes of the British Isles will be found
acceptable, and prove generally useful. A description and a coloured drawing of every
fresh-water species will, it is believed, enable any one to identify any fish that may be met
with. Several species of Sahnonidcc are now here for the first time illustrated by coloured
drawings; the illustrations, in every case where possible, having been made from specimens
of the fish themselves.

It only remains for me to express my thanks to those gentlemen who have rendered me
assistance in procuring specimens, or otherwise helping me. I must especially thank Dr. A.
Gunther, of the British Museum — the highest living ichthyological authority* — for permission
to make use of the Plates in The Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, (1862, 1863,
1865,) illustrating his papers on the British species of Charr ; I have also to thank the Council
of that Society for granting me the same permission. I have been fortunate enough to see
and handle all the British Charrs, and specimens of all the species have been before the
artist engaged in this work, but the Plates above named were found most useful in giving
the characteristic colouration which specimens some days out of the water, or specimens
preserved in spirits, almost invariably, lose. I have also, through the kindness of Dr. Gunther,
had opportunities of examining specimens of various fish in the British Museum ; and the
artist has been able to take figures of some species which are either rare, or which I failed
to procure for myself.

To Mr. Masefield, of Ellerton Hall, Shropshire, a most successful pisciculturist, I am
indebted for specimens of several species, one of the most interesting of which is the
Golden Tench. I have also to express my thanks to my brother-in-law, Lieutenant-Colonel
Masefield, and to my brother. Major Henry Houghton, for assistance and information. I am
greatly obliged to Mr. Thomas Brooke, of the Castle, Lough Esk, and to Mr. Arthur R.
Wallace, of Dublin, for several specimens of that very local species. Cole's Charr (Salnw
colli). I owe many thanks to Mr. Alexander Scott, of the Garrison Hotel, Lough Melvin,
for specimens of Gray's Charr (S. grayij, and the Great Lake Trout (S. froxj. To Mr.

* In acknowledgment of Dr. Giinther's services the Council of the Royal Society has lately presented this distin-
guished Naturalist with one of their medals.

viii PREFACE.

John Parnaby, of Troutdale, Keswick, Cumberland, I am indebted for specimens of Winder-
mere Charr, and of the American Trout, (Salmo fontinalisj. To Mr. T. J. Moore, the ever
obliging Curator of the Liverpool Museum, I owe many thanks for opportunities of examining
the fresh-water fishes in that collection ; especially for some specimens of the so-called
Azurine, taken many years ago from some of the ponds on the Earl of Derby's estate at
Knowsley. Mr. Frank Buckland obligingly sent me a few specimens of the young of the
Bull Trout of the Coquet ; for several large specimens (male and female) of this fish I have
to thank Sir Walter B. Riddell, Bart., of Hepple, Northumberland, and Mr. Pape, of New-
castle. Mr. William Dunbar has given me his opinion as to the Coquet Bull Trout, and his
remarks will be found in their place. The Earl of Enniskillen was kind enough to write me
a letter containing information which proved useful during my visit to Ireland in the summer
of 1878. I must not forget to thank Mr. William Haynes, of Patrick Street, Cork, for.
specimens of the Galway Sea Trout, and for his opinion and experiences of the Slob or
Tidal Trout of the Lee and Bandon rivers. To Mr. Charles Selby Bigge, one of the
Conservators of the Dee Fishery Board, I must express my best thanks for assistance and
information. Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, Bart., most kindly placed his little steam-launch,
men, and nets at my disposal in Bala Lake, in September, 1878, for the purpose of pro-
curing Gwyniad; I beg to express my best thanks to the worthy Baronet, as well as to
Mr. Owen Wynne and Mr. Bigge, for accompanying me and superintending the fishing.
Lastly, I have to thank the artist for the care he has bestowed on the drawings, which I
think cannot fail to give satisfaction both as regards accuracy and artistic effect.

Although some additional knowledge on the subject of the British fresh -water fishes has
been gained since the publication of the works of Yarrell and Couch, — excellent as those
works are, — yet much remains at present obscure. It is not often we know the whole life-
history of a fish; this is especially the case with many of the Salmonida. The solution of
various questions relating to this exceedingly difficult family, can, I think, only be successfully
made by persons trained more or less in scientific subjects, who have almost unlimited time
and ample pecuniary resources at their command, and of course permission from the various
Boards of Conservators throughout the country to take from time to time during the whole
3'ear, even with nets of very small meshes, such fish, whether small or large, as they may
wish to examine. In this way it would be possible to clear away much of the obscurity
that at present exists.

This book treats of the natural history of the various species of fishes that are known
to occur in the rivers, lakes, and ponds of the British Isles; it is not intended to supply
information as to the various modes of angling, whether trolling, spinning, bottom-fishing,
ily-fishing, etc., adopted in this country. For such information the reader will find all, and
perhaps even more than he wants, in the various numerous handbooks which have been
published on this subject.

Pnsto7i-on-the- Weald Moors Rectory, Shropshire,
March \st., 1879.

/ONTENTS.

Perch ....

Ruffe or Pope

Miller's Thumb

Three-spined Stickleback

Ten-spined Stickleback .

Four-spined Stickleback

Short-spined Stickleback

Carp

Crucian Carp

Prussian Carp

Golden Carp

Barbel

Gudgeon

Roach

Chub

Dace

Graining .

RuDD, or Red-eye

Azurine

Dobule

Tench

Golden Tench

Common Bream

White Bream, or Breamflat

Pomeranian Bream

Bleak ....

Minnow ....

Loach ....

Spined Loach, or Groundling

Allis Shad

PAGE

Perca fluviatilis . . . . .

Acerina ccrnua . . . . .

Cottus gobio . . . . .

Gasterostciis ac ill eat us . . . .

Gasterosteus piingitius

Gasterostciis spiiiiilosiis

Gasterosteus brachyccntrus

Cvpriniis carpio ....

Carassiiis vii/garis

Carassiiis vulgaris var. Gibelio

Carassius an rat us

Barbiis vulmris ....

Gobio fluviatilis ....

Lcuciscus rutilus . . . . .

Leucisciis ccplialiis ....

Leuciscus vulgaris . . . .

Leuciscus laneastriciisis .

Leuciscus erythroplithalmus

Leuciscus cccriileus

Leuciscus dobiila ....

Tinea vulgaris . . . . .

Tinea vulmris var.

Abramis bratna . . . . .

Abraniis blicea . . . . .

Abramis Buggenhagii

Alburnus lucidus

Leuciscus pho.xinus

Nemachiliis barbatiilus

Cobites taiiia

C III pea alosa ....

CONTENTS.

TwAiTE Shad ...... Cliipea finta . . . . .

PACE
71

Pike . ...

Esox luciiis

Salmon .....

Salmo salar

Salmon Trout ....

Salmo trutta

Sewen ....

Salmo cambricus

Bull Trout

Salmo eriox

Galway Sea Trout

Salmo gallivensis

■05

Short-headed Salmon

Salmo brachypoma

107

Silvery Salmon

Salmo argcnteus

108

Common Trout

Salmo fario

I T I

Black-finned Trout

Salmo 7iigripi>inis

lig

Loch Stennis Trout

Salmo orcadcnsis

121

Lochleven Trout

Salmo levciicnsis

1^3

GiLLAROo Trout

Salmo stoiiiachicus,

1-5

Great Lake Trout

Salmo fcrox

129

Windermere Charr

Saltno willuglibii .

135

Cole's Charr

Salmo colli

138

Gray's Charr

Salmo grayi

139

ToRGOCH, OR Welsh Charr

Salmo perisii

141

Alpine Charr

Salmo alpinus

143

Loch Killin Charr

Salmo killinensis

145

Grayling

Thymallus vulgaris

149

GwT^NIAD

Coregomis clupeoides

153

Vendace

Coregomis vandcsius

155

POLLAN

Coregonus poll an

157

POWAN

Coregomis clupeoides var. ?

'59

Smelt, Sparling

Osmerus cperlanus

t6i

Burbot, Eel-pout

Lota vuharis

165

Sturgeon

Acipenser sturio

169

Sharp-nosed Eel

Anniilla vulmris .

187

Broad-nosed Eel

Anguilla latirostris

188

Sea Lamprey

Petromyzon jnarinus

193

Lampern, or River Lamprey

Petromyzo7i fluviatilis

195

Small Lamprey, or Planer's

Lamp

REY

Petromyzon brauchialis .

196

"Introduction.

TJ^ISHES form the fourth class of vertebrate animals ; they are provided either with gills
-*- {branchice) , or gill-sacs {iiiarsipobranc/nce) , by means of which they are enabled to breathe
the air contained in the water in which they live; the heart, which consists of a single auricle
and ventricle, is present in almost all fish except in the sub-class Leptocardii, where certain
pulsating sinuses perform the functions of a heart, as in the curious little marine fish the
Lancelet (Branchiostomi lanccolatuui). The limbs in fishes, corresponding to those organs in
other vertebrates, occur, when present, in the form of fins. These fins are generally arranged
in pairs at the sides, when they represent the limbs of other vertebrata, or they may occur
singly on the back and abdomen ; the paired fins are the pectoral and the ventral ; the dorsal,
anal, and caudal fins are unpaired or asymmetrical.

p u

The arrangement of the fins will be readily seen in the accompanying woodcut of the
Bearded Mullet {Mullus barbatus), di is the first dorsal fin; di the second dorsal; v one of
the paired ventrals; p one of the paired pectorals; a the anal fin, and c the caudal fin or tail.
For the most part these fins are structurally similar; they consist of a fold of the skin, or
expansions of the integument, and are supported by bony or cartilaginous rays, pretty much
in the way, as Milne Edwards says, "that the wings of bats are supported by the fingers and
ribs." The pectoral fins, which are analogous to the fore-limbs of other vertebrates, are
attached by their base to a strong bony arch, which is itself fixed to the back of the skull,
or to the anterior part of the spinal column ; this arrangement may be readily seen by any
one who carves a Cod's head and shoulders at dinner; the ventrals, or the hind-limbs of
fishes, are fixed to an arch of bone — the representation of the pelvic arch of the higher
vertebrates — which is sometimes merely supported by the muscles, in cases where these organs
are placed far back as in the Pike, a complete skeleton of which is before me as I write;
but where the ventral fins are situated not far back, but in the vicinity of the psctoral, the
pelvic arch is united to the pectoral arch ; the unpaired or median, fins, as they are sometimes
called, are strengthened by osseous or cartilaginous rays, and are supported upon "interspinous

xii INTRODUCTION.

bones" imbedded in the flesh of the fish; the points of the interspinous bones are attached
to the spinous processes of the vertebrae, each by a ligament, their heads are firmly united
to the bases of the fin rays ; this arrangement between the median fins, the interspinous bones,
and the vertebral spinous processes, may easily be seen by anyone, who will take the trouble
to look out for it, when he is eating a fried Perch for breakfast or dinner.

The caudal fin or tail is the chief organ of motion in a fish; by a rapid succession of
oblique lateral impulses the fish is enabled to dart through the water at a very quick pace.
There are two distinct types of tail in fishes, one being much more common than the other:
in one type this organ consists of two equal or nearly equal lobes, which are attached to
the spinous processes of the posterior part of the vertebral column ; as is the case in all the
British fresh-water species of fish, with the exception of the Sturgeon. This symmetrical tail
is said to be homoccrcal ; from ofio'^, "the same," and Kepico<i, "the tail." The other type of tail,
which occurs in the Sturgeon, Sharks, Dog-fishes, &c., exhibits an unsymmetrical form, for
the lobes are unequal, while the vertebral column runs right into the upper portion of the
tail; this structural arrangement is designated hy the terva. keterocercal ; from erepo^, "different,"
and KepKo<;, "the tail" (See this form of tail in the plate of the Sturgeon.)

Skeleton of Perch.
The interspinous bones are seen between the vertebral column and the dorsal fins.

The skeleton is either osseous or cartilaginous. Most of the British fresh-water species
have osseous skeletons, and belong to the sub-class Teleostei ; others, as the Lampreys, have
cartilaginous skeletons throughout life ; in some fishes, as in the Sturgeon, the skeleton is
partly cartilaginous; in the Lancelet, a salt-water fish of the lowest type, there is no true
skeleton, the vertebral column being merely a gelatinous notochord. The vertebra of a bony
fish is cup-shaped at both ends, the margins being attached by ligaments. In the cavities
formed by the junction of the vertebrae there is a quantity of jelly-like substance, imparting
to the spine great flexibility : this lubricating gelatinous substance passes from one intervertebral
cavity into another through minute pores which perforate their centres. The spinal column
consists of two parts, an abdominal, and a caudal. The spinal cord passes through the upper
or neural arch of the vertebrae for the whole length of the body of the fish : the abdominal
vertebrae possess also a superior spinous process, and two transverse processes for the attachment
of the ribs. In the caudal vertebrae there are no transverse processes, but this portion of
the column possesses an inferior or hccvial arch, as well as inferior spinous processes.

The bones of a fish's skull are numerous, and the structure of the head is very complex;
the cranium of osseous fishes, when its parts are complete, is made up of no fewer than
twenty-six bones. In the median portion of the cranium there is a cavity which contains the
brain and the auditory apparatus. The other parts necessary to be noticed for the discrimination
of species are: — (i) The gill-cover, consisting of the operculum, praeoperculum, suboperculum,
and interoperculum. (2) The upper portion of the jaw, called the maxillary. (3) The prae-

INTRODUCTION.

xiu

or intermaxillary. (4) The palatine bones. (5) The vomer.
mandible or lower jaw. (8) The branchiostegal rays.

(6) The hyoid bones. (7) The

Head of Pike.

a, operculum. 6, suboperculum. r, preoperciilum. i?, interoperculum. c, vomer. /, iirffimaxiUary. g, palatine, h, maxillary, i, hyoid.

k, branchiostegal rays hyoitl. /, mandible.

Fish as a rule have their external integuments covered with scales, though there are fish
quite destitute of scales ; amongst the scaleless fresh-water fish may be mentioned the Miller's
Thumb and the Lampreys. Important characters may sometimes be drawn from the form of
the scales. Agassiz enumerates four kinds of scales, which he termed cycloid, ctenoid, placoid,
and ganoid.

(i.) Cycloid scales (from kvkKo^, "a circle,") are thin scales more or less circular, with a
smooth margin ; they occur in most of our fishes.

(2.) Ctenoid scales (from k.tu'^, Kreim, "a comb,") have their hinder margins cut into
comb-like spines, as in the Perch.

(3.) Placoid scales (from -TrXa^, ttXo/co?, "anything flat and broad,") consist of detached
bony plates scattered through the skin; these scales are not unfrequently armed with pro-
jecting spines, as in the common Thornback Ray.

(4.) Ganoid scales (from 7ai'os^ "brightness," "polish,") are generally much thicker than
other scales; they are often oblong or rhomboidal, or lozenge-shaped in form, and seldom
overlap one another, as in Lcpidosteiis, or Bony Pike of North America.

In nearly all fish a peculiar line, called "the lateral line," is to be seen; this line
consists of a number of perforations in the scales, each scale having a pore with a minute
tube leading into a longitudinal canal, which has the power of secreting a mucus to lubricate
the surface of the whole body; a very desirable object, whereby the fish is enabled to dart
through the watery medium in which it passes its life.

The digestive system in fishes consists of an cesophagus, a stomach, and an intestine.
The mouth is usually furnished with teeth, which present greater diversity in their mode, as
well as in their place of attachment, than is observable in any other class of animals. In
some fishes almost every bone of the mouth is provided with teeth, and even the tongue is
armed with these weapons; notably I may instance the teeth in the genus Esox (Pike), and
in that of Salnio. Everyone knows what a formidable dental armature the Pike possesses;
there are large and strong teeth of unequal size on the mandible, the maxillary is destitute
of teeth, but the premaxillary, the vomer, the palatine, and the hyoid bones are thickly
studded with cardiform* teeth, of which those of the palatines are the largest and disposed
most irregularly. So again, what an effective apparatus for seizing and retaining hold of a

* Cardiform is from carduiis, "a thistle;" or more directly from the brush set with wire-teeth for "carding" wool,
cotton, etc.

XIV

INTRODUCTION.

slippery prey is possessed by the Common Trout ! the vomer, palantines, intermaxillary,
maxillary, the mandible, and the tong-ue are all furnished with sharp conical teeth. Some
fish are entirely destitute of teeth in the mouth, others possess them in a very rudimentary
form. In the family of the Cyprinidcc, as the Carp, Tench, Roach, etc., the mouth is utterly
toothless, hence these fishes are popularly designated by anglers as "leather-mouthed" fishes;
but he would make a very great mistake who would assert that these fish are altogether
devoid of a dental apparatus. The teeth of the Cyprinidce are situated in the throat, on the
pharyngeal bones ; though formed on one general type these bones and teeth present
differences of form in different species, and this difference of form often possesses high value
in the determination of closely allied species or of hybrids. I have dissected out these
phar}'ngeal teeth from all the species of our CyprinidcE, figures of some of which are given
on page xvi. Let us notice the form and position of the dental apparatus in one of these
fishes, and from thence deduce the functions thereof.

•hi li ^-itET *».■ p — ^^

Dental apparatus of Tench.

The figure represents the dental apparatus of the Common Tench ; a Is the roof of the
mouth, b is the oesophagus, <: is a hardened and dilated projection from the basilar bone of
the cranium ; at d, d are seen the pharyngeal teeth. By means of strong muscles these

Portion of alimentary canal of Salmon.
it. cardiiu h, pylorus. d, duodeiiiuli, or intestine, with numerous pyloric utccii at c. f, bilLMliK-t.

teeth are worked upon the hardened body c, which forms a kind of anvil upon which the

INTRODUCTION. xv

bruising throat teeth work, and thus whatever food^which in the Cyprinidce is frequently of a
vegetable nature — passes into the oesophagus undergoes a triturating process whereby it is
more readily rendered digestible.

The stomach of a fish is usually of a large size; it varies, however, both in size and
shape ; generally it forms a curved tube, like a siphon ; the descending portion is called
the cai-dia, the ascending part is the pylorus, which is generally provided with a valve.
Sometimes the pyloric portion has its walls very much thickened, as in the Salmo stomacliicus,
or Gillaroo* Trout of the lakes of Ireland. Behind the pyloric opening of the stomach there
are in many fish a number of blind tubes called the appendices pylorica, or "pyloric caeca;"
they vary in number as well as in structure ; there may be only two or three of these
caeca, or there may be as many as two hundred; in form they may be simple short tubes,
sometimes mere cylindrical capsules, as in Cole's Charr {Salmo colii), or they may consist of
elaborate branches. It is supposed these appendages perform the function of the pancreas;
in many fish they are altogether absent. Attention should always be given to these pyloric
caca, as they are sometimes of value in determining a species ; the Galway Sea Trout {Salmo
gallivensis), for instance, is at once recognised from the Common Sea or Salmon Trout (5.
trutta) by the excessive shortness of these blind tubes.

Some fish are entirely carnivorous in their habits, others are to a great extent herbivorous ;
the solvent power in a voracious species of fish is most conspicuously exemplified; if, for in-
stance, a Pike be captured soon after it has swallowed its prey, the head portion of the same,
which is the part that generally first reaches the stomach, will be found more or less digested
and dissolved, whilst that part which still remains in the gullet may remain entire. It is
mentioned by Aristotle and other ancient writers as a curious fact, that the only fish known
to ruminate is the Scarus.f

It appears, however, that amongst the Cyprinida:, as the Carp, Tench, Roach, &c., and
other herbivorous fishes, rumination is quite a normal process, and here the curious throat-
teeth play a most important part. "The muscular action of a fish's stomach," says Professor
Owen, "consists of vermicular contractions, creeping slowly in continuous succession from the
cardia to the pylorus, and impressing a two-fold gyratory motion on the contents: so that,
while some portions are proceeding to the pylorus, other portions are returning towards the
cardia. More direct constrictive and dilative movements occur, with intervals of repose, at
both the orifices, the vital contraction being antagonized by pressure from within. The pylorus
has the power, very evidently, of controlling that pressure, and only portions of completely
comminuted and digested food (chyme) are permitted to pass into the intestine. The cardiac
orifice appears to have less control over the contents of the stomach ; coarser portions of the
food from time to time return into the mophagus, and are brought again within the sphere of the
pharyngeal jaws, and subjected to their masticatory and comminuting operations. The fishes which
afford the best evidence of this ruminating action are the Cyprinoids (Carp, Tench, Bream,)
caught after they have fed voraciously on the ground-bait, previously laid in their feeding
haunts to insure the angler good sport. A Carp in this predicament, laid open, shows well

* The name of Gillaroo is a corruption of the Irish words gilla, gilk, "a boy," "an attendant," and ruadh,
"red;" "the red fellow," in allusion to the bright large red spots on this fish. Gill is the root of the word "gillie,"
the Salmon Fisher's gillie or attendant. Compare the Anglo-Sa.xon gilda, "a companion."

t The Scarus of the Ancients is doubtless the Scariis cretcnsis of Aldrovandi, a Mediterranean species noticed
by Spratt and Forbes, still abundant on the Lycian shores ; by means of its parrot-shaped mouth, it bites off and
feeds on the stony corallines, nullipores, &c., its chief food. It is probable that the Scarus returns portions oj the
hard coralline contents of the stomach for trituration. Oppian has most clearly expressed the ruminating process in
this fish in the following words —

Kal fJ.OVl'O'i tOTjTVV

ai.ynppov TTpoitjo'i'.i' ava, arofj-a. diurepoi' auri-:
BaMuuei'dii, iA,ri\.oio-iv avaiTTViTcrwv laa (poa/Brju.

(Hal. i. 2.)

XVI

INTRODUCTION.

and long the peristaltic movements of the alimentary canal ; and the successive regurgitations
of the gastric contents produce actions of the pharyngeal jaws, as the half bruised grains
come into contact with them, and excite the singular tumefaction and subsidence of the irri-
table palate, as portions of the regurgitated food are pressed upon it. The shortness and
width of the oesophagus, the masticatory mechanism at its commencement, and its direct
terminal continuation with the cardiac portion of the stomach, relate to the combination of an
act analogous to rumination, with the ordinary process of digestion, in all fishes possessing
these concatenated and peculiar structures." — {Anat. of Vertcb., i. p. 419.)

Azurine.

Tench.

Dace.

Eiidd.

Roach.

Bre.am.

B.arbel.

Pomeranian Bream.

In a letter with which Professor Owen, with his characteristic kindness, some few years
ago favoured me, he says, "Continued observations under the rare and difficult circumstances
according to which they can be made, have now convinced me, that matters for mastication
by throat-chewers come from bchiiid, as those by mouth-chewers from before. And indeed when
one comes to consider how thoroughly and regularly the mouth of a fish is washed out by
the branchial streams, there needs must be some special arrangement for the masticating
machinery in lithophagus and phytophagous fishes. Consider what would be the consequence to
the partially broken up coral and pulp, if retained at the back of the mouth, to be pounded
piecemeal by the pharyngeals, the rush of two diverging streams through that faucial area
■i-oino- on the while like clockwork. No ! the food, reduced if needful to a size swallowable, is
bolted, and the branchial way speedily cleared. Then comes into play that anti-peristaltic
rotation of the short gullet, and bit by bit the contents are shed in a tergo between the
grinders till all is pulped."

A fish's intestine is usually short and wide, and more or less convoluted; the mucous
membrane presents numerous modifications; it has often a spiral folding (as in the- Sharks),

INTR OD UC TION. xvii

which winds in a corkscrew fashion from the pylorus to the anus ; by these means of course
the absorbing surface is considerably increased ; it is generally thick and glandular, always
vascular ; it is reticulate in many fishes, as in the Mursena and the Sturgeon ; in the Salmon
the mucous membrane is more or less rugose.

The liver in fishes is generally of a large size and well developed, and frequently
contains an enormous quantity of oil, this alone forming an important article of commerce ;
its texture is usually very soft ; the lobes are often numerous ; a gall-bladder, from which
the bile is poured into the intestine through a single duct, which terminates near the
pylorus (see fig. f), is, as a rule, present, though there are a few exceptions. Among fresh-
water fishes, the gall-bladder is absent in the Lampreys.

In fishes the kidneys consist of two lengthened dark red-brown bodies, on each side of
the median line of the body, beneath the vertebrae, extending through the whole or the
greater part of the dorsal region of the abdomen. The kidneys of a fish are readily dis-
cernible ; they form that long red band which lies adjacent to the backbone, easily seen
after the extraction of the other viscera ; it is that part of a fish which a careless cook fails
to clean out thoroughly, which can only be done by means of several scrapings with the
sharp point of a knife and copious ablutions of pure cold water.

The respiration of all fishes is purely aquatic ; it is beautifully effected in all osseous
fishes, with the exception of the Lophobrauchii, — as the Pipe-fishes iSyngnathus), and the Sea-
horses (Hippocampus), — by means of gills or branchice. These organs consist of a single or
double series of flat cartilaginous bodies which support delicate fringes richly supplied with
blood ; above, the gills are united to the under side of the head ; below, they are connected
with the tongue or hyoid bone. The mechanism of the respiratory process is simple in
nearly all osseous fishes. The water is taken in at the mouth, and bathes the branchial
fissures; having lost its oxygen, the water is forcibly driven through the wide opening on
each side of the neck called the gill-fissure, which fissure is closed in front by a series of
flat bony scales called the gill-cover or "operculum." The normal number of these vascular
branchial arches is four on each side of the hyoid bone in osseous fishes ; in cartilaginous
fishes the usual number is five ; in the Cyclostomata, as in the Lampreys, it is seven ; in
these last-named fish the oxygenating water does not reach the branchial sacs through the
mouth ; it passes through the gill-sac openings by a tube leading into the pharynx, from
whence it passes into the gill-sacs, these gill-sacs freely communicating with each other
through the pharynx.

The smaller the external orifice of the gills, and the closer the gill-cover fits on these
organs, the greater is the power in the fish to bear exposure to the outward air; so long
as the branchial laminae are kept moist, they can, to some extent, perform their function of
appropriating to themselves the oxygen of the water retained within the branchial chamber;
but when the external aperture of the gills is large, desiccation by the atmospheric air
takes place, and the delicate branchial laminae collapse, and death speedily ensues, for the
blood can no longer effect a passage through them. Perhaps of all fresh-water fishes the
Eel is best able to survive a lengthened period out of its watery element. In the Eels the
gill-opening is a mere external fissure, a small vertical slit, and is removed very far back ;
so that the cavity, which lodges the branchiae, is converted into a long chamber wherein can
be retained a considerable quantity of water; so that in early summer mornings, when the
dew is on the grass. Eels are able to make their overland-way to some distance from one
piece of water to another.

The Auabas, or Climbing Perch of the tropics, has receptacles in which it can retain
water, as in reservoirs, wherewith to moisten the folded branchial laminae. Besides the
branchiae, most osseous fishes possess certain vascular bodies called "pseudobranchiae." There
are genera in which these organs have not been detected ; they are situated on each side

XVUl

INTRODUCTION.

of the head at the dorsal end of the first gill ; each pseudobranch consists of a small exposed
row of vascular filaments, or as "a vaso-ganglionic body, composed of parallel vascular
lobes, and covered by the membrane of the branchial chamber, as in Esox, Cypriniis, Gadiis.
In both cases the vein or efferent vessel of the pseudobranchia becomes the ophthalmic artery." —
(Owen.) This organ is small, but can be made out, where present, by the expenditure of a
little patience in dissection.

The heart of a fish may almost be said to be in its mouth, so high up in the cavity
of the body is it situated. Its situation is in the throat behind the last branchial arch ; it
is separated from the abdominal cavity by a strong septum. A fish's heart differs from the
heart of another vertebrate animal by possessing only one ventricle and one auricle; the
latter receives the venous blood from all parts of the body, while the former propels it
through the branchial surfaces. From the ventricle there springs a large vessel called the
branchial artery, the base of which in most fishes is developed into a strong muscular cavity,
the bulbus arteriosus, which seems to serve as a kind of second ventricle. This branchial artery
carries the venous blood to the gills, where it is oxygenated by the water. From the gills
the blood is driven to a single dorsal artery {aorta), by whose branches it is conveyed to all
parts of the body, returning by the veins to the auricle from which it originally started.

That curious piscine creature, the Lancelet, has no true heart; the circulation is effected
by certain pulsating sinuses. In all fishes, except in the Lancelet, the blood is red and
cold, that is, it has a temperature equal to that of the medium in which the fish dwells.
In the Lepidosiren the heart possesses two auricles and one ventricle. The mention of this
strange amphibian-like fish leads me to mention an organ that exists in many fishes, called
the "swim-bladder," or "air-bladder," with which every fisherman is familiar. This air-bladder,
which is very variable in form according to the species of fish, is a sac filled with gas; it
extends along the back of the abdomen, between the kidneys and the intestinal canal.
Sometimes, as in the Perch, it is .a simple elongated cylinder closed at both ends; some-
times, as in the Carp, Tench, Roach, and other Cypriuida;, this organ is divided crosswise
into two portions by a deep constriction, with a minute orifice leading from the one portion
to the other. Now this air-bladder is sometimes, and often, simply a closed sac ; but in
some fishes it opens into the oesophagus by a narrow channel or duct, called the diictii
pucuinaticus. How does the gas or air gain admittance into the bladder? In the case of
those fish whose air-bladders possess no ductus pncumaticus it seems that the gas must be
secreted by the inner membrane of the bladder from the blood; but in fishes which are
provided with a ductus pncumaticus, so as to lead to a communication with the gullet, the air
generated within may be in a great measure derived from the atmosphere. The contained
gas of the air-bladder of fishes consists of a mixture of nitrogen and oxygen with traces of
carbonic acid; in fresh-water fishes the largest' percentage of nitrogen occurs; in salt-water
fishes oxygen is said to occur in the largest proportion. Some, I believe, have maintained
that the gas of the swim-bladder of Carps consists of pure nitrogen. Humboldt, who experi-
mented on the Electric Eel, {Gymnotus e/cctricus), found the gas of its air-bladder to consist
of ninety-six per cent, of nitrogen and four of oxygen. Biot, on the other hand, experimenting
on some deep-sea Mediterranean fishes, discovered eighty-seven per cent, of oxygen, the rest
nitrogen with a trace of carbonic acid.*

■•• The late Dr. Davy was rather doubtful as to the accuracy of these experiments. He remarks, "That the same
organ should secrete two gages so very different in their nature appears anomalous and deserving of further enquiry.
Indeed does not the entire subject need more minute enquiry? At present the facts relating to it are few, and seem
far from adequate to allow of very satisfactory conclu.sions being drawn as to the use of the bladder and its secretion
in the animal economy, except of a mechanical kind as affecting the specific gravity of the fish. Were the gas
uniformly of one kind, were it constantly azote, it might be easy to assign it a plausible end; the function of the
air-bladder might be inferred to be auxiliary to that of the kidneys. The secretion of oxygen is the anomalous fact,
so contrary is it to the ordinary changes in living animals in which the general tendency is to the consumption of

INTRODUCTION. xix

The swim-bladder does not exist in all fishes ; in the Lampreys it is entirely absent ; it
does not exist in the Sharks, Dog-fish, Rays, and the Chimera. There is a swim-bladder and
an air-duct in the Eel, Herring, Salmon, Pike, Carp, Silurus, with their allies ; in the order
Anacanthini, as in the Ophidium, Cod, and Plaice, the air-bladder when present has no
pneumatic duct; in the Acaiithopto-ys^il or spiny-finned Fishes, as in the Perch and Miller's
Thumb amongst fresh-water species, the air-bladder, where it exists, is without a pneumatic duct,
the same is the case with the orders Plcctognathi, File-fish, Trunk-fish, Globe-fish, and LopJio-
bra7ichii. Pipe-fishes and Sea-horses. In the sub-class Dipnoi, or "Double-breathers," as in
the Protopterus annedens of Tropical Africa, and the Lcpidosiren paradoxa of Brazil, we meet
with a most interesting form of air-bladder : it is double, cellular, and lung-like, and is
provided with an air-duct, glottis, and pulmonary vein.

What then are the functions of the swim-bladder and air-duct, when present ? What
does their presence appear to indicate ? Will it serve to throw any gleam of light on that
most interesting subject, the origin of species? There can be no doubt that "under all its
diversities of structure and function, the homology of the swim-bladder with the lungs is
clearly traceable." True, there is nothing at all in the simple cylindrical closed air-bladder
of a Perch, with its shining silvery fibrous tunic, to remind one of the cellular structure of
the lung of an amphibian ; but it must be remembered that there are numerous gradations,
leading by various transitions, from a single cavity up to a highly complex cellular organ,
which both in structure and function is indisputably a lung. The fishes which most closely
resemble the amphibians are the Proioptei-iis anuectcns, or Mud-fish of Tropical Africa, and the
Lepidodrcn paradoxa, of the river Amazon and its tributaries. In Protopterus, we find these
traditions complete, for here we see a double lung-like air-bladder, with air-duct, glottis and
pulmonary vein, and this respiratory apparatus, be it remembered, is at certain periods
functionally identical with the lungs of air-breathing vertebrates; for Protopterus, after the rains
have ceased to flood the river Gambia, finds itself left behind in the mud of the retreating
waters ; the scorching rays of a tropical sun compel the fish to burrow in the mud, in which
it forms a kind of cocoon of hard-baked clay. How is the fish to live in this changed
locality? As an inhabitant of the water, the respiration was effected by means of gills alone, as in
ordinary fishes ; but how is the circulation to be maintained now that it is a terrestrial animal;
Professor Owen tells us in clear and distinct terms. "Whatever amount of respiration was
requisite to maintain life during the dry months is effected in the pulmonary air-bladders ; its
short and wide duct or trachea, the oesophageal origin of which is kept open by a laryngeal
cartilage, introduces the air directly into the bladders ; the blood transmitted through the
branchial arches to the pulmonary arteries, is distributed by their ramifications over the cellular
surface of the air-bladders, and is returned arterialised by the pulmonary veins. A mixed
venous and arterial blood is thence distributed to the system and again to the air-bladders."
— [Anat. of Vert., i. p. 498.) When the Protopterus resumes its piscine nature on the return of
the water, the branchial circulation again comes into play. In this fish, therefore, we have
an instance of an animal which is a fish at certain periods of its existence, and an amphibian
at others; and I believe with Darwin that natural selection has operated "in converting a
swim-bladder into a true lung, used exclusively for respiration."

It surely is quite conceivable that under changed conditions, acting for a lengthened
period, the Salamandroid Protopterus — which some naturalists of note maintain to be more
allied to amphibia than to fish — might gradually convert its ichthycic characters into amphibian
ones, just as I believe it has converted, not only the swim-bladder and pneumatic duct into
an air-breathing lung, trachea and glottis, but also two pairs of the gills of the branchial

oxygen. A priori, one might almost as much expect oxygen to be exhaled from the lungs, in respiration, as to be
separated from the blood by secretion in the air-bladder; and had we not the authority of so accurate an observer
as M. Biot, we might be led to suspect that the statement of its being so was founded on error." — {Physiol. Res. p. 271.)

XX INTRODUCTION.

arches into vascular channels, in order that it should be able to maintain a slow circulation
as a terrestrial animal, when encased in its cocoon of mud. I see nothing improbable in the
supposition that in Protopterus we have a living v/itness of a fish in a transition stage towards
becoming, in course of time, under favourable conditions, a true amphibian ; and I do believe
that amphibia are altered forms of fish, to which in some cases, they bear a considerable
resemblance ; and I think it probable that one of the steps In the transition — and a most
interesting and important step it is — is made by the gradual conversion of the swim-bladder
and pneumatic duct, into a lung, trachea, and glottis.

Generally speaking, the function of a fish's swim-bladder is no doubt merely a mechanical
one; but this organ cannot be of much importance, nor does it exhibit "such a plain and
direct instance of mechanical contrivance" as was maintained by Paley, Roget, Cuvier, and
others. For how is it that in different genera of fishes, of precisely similar habits, some have
an air-bladder, others have not ? One can at once understand why such an organ should
be absent in the PleuroncdidcB (Soles, Turbots, Flounders, etc.), whose habits confine them to
the bottom of the water, and which do not, therefore, require the mechanical upward lift
afforded by an air-bladder; but when we find that one surface-swimming Mackerel {Scomber
colias) has a swim-bladder, and another (5. vulgaris), of precisely similar habits, is devoid of
one, it is obvious, notwithstanding the general function of the organ when present, that it is
by no means an essential adjunct to swimming. Many of the Silurida possess a large and
sometimes complex swim-bladder, but genera occur in which there is no swim-bladder at all.
The air-bladder in the Sihcrida, and in some of the Cyprinidce, communicates with the organ
of hearing by means of the ear-bones, or auditory ossicles, and doubtless serves to intensify
the sound. Fish that keep to the bottom, are, as a rule, devoid of this organ, but in the
mud-loving Eel we meet with swim-bladder and pneumatic duct.

With respect to the reproductive system, fishes are generally oviparous. In osseous
fishes, as a rule, the ova are deposited and impregnated by the milt of the male externally.
This is the case with all our fresh-water species. Rare instances are met with, as in the
marine viviparous Blenny, in which the females produce offspring already somewhat advanced
in growth. In such cases impregnation must occur internally, though no structural peculiarity
is to be detected in the male or female organs. In the cartilaginous Sharks and Dogfish the
generative apparatus is different, and approximates to a certain extent that type of structure
observable in reptiles and birds. The ova of the female fish is familiarly known as the
"roe;" the milt of the male is spoken of as the "soft roe."

In the construction of their nervous and cerebral system fishes stand the lowest in the
vertebrate scale. I cannot do better than quote the remarks of Cuvier on the general
attributes of fishes, and their relative position in the animal scale.

"Breathing by the medium of water, that is to say, only profiting by the small quantity
of oxygen contained in the air mixed with the water, their blood remains cold ; their vitality,
the energy of their senses and movements, are less than in mammalia and birds. Thus
their brain, although similar in composition, is proportionally much smaller, and their external
organs of sense not calculated to impress upon it powerful sensations. Fishes are in fact,
of all the vertebrata, those which give the least apparent evidence of sensibility. Having
no elastic air at their disposal, they are dumb, or nearly so, and to all the sentiments which
voice awakens or entertains they are strangers. Their eyes are, as it were, motionless, their
face bony and fixed, their limbs incapable of flexion and moving as one piece, leaving no
play to their physiognomy, no expression to their feelings. Their ear, enclosed entirely
in the cranium, without external concha, or internal cochlea, composed only of some sacs and
membranous canals, can hardly suffice to distinguish the most striking sounds, and, moreover,
they have little use for the sense of hearing, condemned to live in the empire of silence,
where everything around is mute.

INTRODUCTION. xxi

Even their sight in the depths which they frequent could have little exercise, if most
of them had not, in the size of their eyes, a means of compensation for the feebleness of
the light ; but even in these the eye hardly changes its direction, still less by altering its
dimensions can it accommodate itself to the distances of objects. The iris never dilates or
contracts, and the pupil remains the same in all intensities of illumination. No tear ever
waters the eye — no eyelid wipes or protects it — it is in the fish but a feeble representative
of this organ, so beautiful, so lively, and so animated in the higher classes of animals.

Being only able to support itself by pursuing a prey, which itself swims more or less
rapidly, having no means of seizing it but by swallowing, a delicate perception of savours
would have been useless if nature had bestowed it ; but their tongue, almost motionless, often
entirely bony or coated with dental plates, and only furnished with slender nerves, and these
few in number, shows us that this organ also is as obtuse as its little use would lead us to
imagine. Their smell even cannot be exercised so continually as in animals which respire
air and have their nostrils constantly traversed by odorous vapours.

Lastly, their touch, almost annihilated at the surface of their body by the scales which
clothe them, and in their limbs by the want of flexibility in their rays, and the nature of the
membranes investing them, is confined to the ends of their lips, and even these in some are
osseous and insensible.

Thus, the external senses of fishes give them few lively and distinct impressions. Sur-
rounding nature cannot affect them, but in a confused manner ; their pleasures are little varied,
and they have no painful impressions from without but such as are produced by wounds.

Their continual need, which, except in the breeding season, alone occupies and guides
them, is to assuage the internal feeling of hunger, to devour almost all that they can. To
pursue a prey or to escape from a pursuer makes the occupation of their life ; it is this which
determines their choice of the different situations which they inhabit ; it is the principal cause
of the variety of their forms, and of the special instincts or artifices which nature has granted
to some of the species.

Vicissitudes of temperature affect them little, not only because these are less in the
element which they inhabit than in our atmosphere, but because their bodies taking the sur-
rounding temperature, the contrast of external cold and .internal heat scarcely exists in their
case.* Thus the seasons are not so exclusively the regulators of their migration and propa-
gation as amongst quadrupeds, or more especially birds. Many fishes spawn in winter; it is
towards autumn that Herrings come out of the north to shed upon our coast their spawn and
milt. It is in the north that the most astonishing fecundity is witnessed, if not in variety of
species, at least in individuals ; and in no other seas do we find anything approaching to
the countless myriads of Herrings and Cod which attract whole fleets to the northern fisheries.

The loves of fishes are cold as themselves ; they only indicate individual need. Scarcely
is it permitted to a few species that the two sexes should pair, and enjoy pleasure together ;
in the rest the males pursue the eggs rather than seek the females ; they are reduced to
impregnate eggs, the mother of which is unknown, and whose produce they will never see.
The pleasures of maternity are equally unknown to most species ; a small number only carry
their eggs with them for a short time; with few exceptions fishes have no nest to build and
no young to nourish ; in a word, even to the last details, their economy contrasts diametrically
with that of birds." t

* Sudden change of temperature, however, does affect some kinds of fish in a most marked manner. When
placed at once into very cold water, at a temperature considerably lower than the water from which they have been
taken, fish will often turn on their backs, become apparently paral3'zed and die. The reader will find some interesting-
experiments on "The Degree of Temperature fatal to Fishes," — the temperature in these cases being that of warm or
hot water — in Dr. J. Davy's Physiological Researches, p. 297-305. The experiments were made at Oxford some years ago
in conjunction with Mr. Robertson, Demonstrator at the Museum, Oxford, and my valued friend, Professor Rolleston.

t Cyclop. Anal. Sf Phys., iii. p. 955-6.

xxii INTRODUCTION.

The great class of Blshes (Pisces,) is by some naturalists divided into the following
six sub-classes, (i) Tdcostci, (2) Dipnoi, (3) Ganoidei, (4) Chondropterygii, (5) Cyclostomata ,
(6) Leptocardii. I follow Dr. Glinther in the following classification : —

The first sub-class of TELEOSTEI contains all those fishes which have a complete bony
skeleton ; this sub-class comprehends more species than all the other sub-classes put together,
and nearly all our British fresh-water species belong to this great sub-class. It contains the
following orders, which are again themselves divided into different families, the families into
genera, and the genera into species.

Order I. — Acanthopterygii, from aKavBo<i, "a spine," and Trrepv^, "a wing," or "fin,"
contains those fishes whose fin rays form spines, as in the Common Perch. The air-bladder,
when present, has no pneumatic duct.

Order II. — Acanthopterygii-Pharyngognathi, contains those species in which the in-
ferior pharyngeal bones coalesce, as in the marine Labrida or Wrasses ; air-bladder without
pneumatic duct. There is no British fresh-water species belonging to this order.

Order III. — Anacanthini, in which, excepting in one genus, the vertical and ventral
fins are without spinous rays; from a, "not,"' and aKav6o<;, "a spine." Air-bladder, when
present, without pneumatic duct. This order contains two sub-orders, {a) Gadoidei (Codfish
families), and {b) Pleuronectoidei (Flat-fish, Soles, Turbots, etc.) We have a single fresh-
water representative of sub-order {a) in the Eel-pout, or Burbot, (Lota vulgaris J : and of
sub-order {b) in the Flounder (Picuvonectcs JJesusJ, which is known to ascend our rivers to a
considerable distance ; some years ago Flounders were common in the Severn as high up as
Shrewsbury.

Order IV. — Physostomi. This is an extensive order, and comprises several families, as
the Cyprinida, ClupcidcB, Esocidcc, Salmonidcc, and Murcenida;, all of which have British fresh-
water representatives. The fin rays are articulated ; the first of the dorsal and pectoral being
sometimes more or less bony; the spineless ventral fins, when present, are not situated near
the pectorals, but on the abdomen. The^Nord. PIiysosh?!ii is from the Greek <^vaa, "a bladder,"
and arofj-a, "a mouth," in allusion to the air-bladder, when present, being connected with
the mouth or gullet by means of the pneumatic duct, which is the invariable accompaniment
of the air-bladder in this order. Carp, Shad, Pike, Salmon, and Eel are fresh-water repre-
sentatives of this order. •

Order V. — Lophobranchii, from Xocjio'^, "a tuft," and (Bpajxia, "the gills." In this order
the gills are formed of small rounded lobes, and are not laminated. The air-bladder has
no pneumatic duct. Marine examples are Sea-horses (Hippocampus), and Pipe-fishes [Syngnai/iiis).
There is no fresh-water representative.

Order VI. — Plectognathi, from -n-Xe^To?, "twisted," or "fastened together," and yvado';,
"the jaw," because generally the maxillary and praemaxillary bones of the mouth are
immovably connected on each side of the mouth, as in the genera Ostracion (Trunkfish),
Balistes (Filefish), and Orthagoriscus (Sunfish). Of this order there is no British fresh-water
representative ; indeed Giinther tells us that nearly all are marine fishes. The air-bladder
has no pneumatic duct.

Sub-class II. — DIPNOI is one of the most interesting of all the sub-classes ; the word
means "double breathers." This has already been explained on pages xix-xx, to which the
reader is referred. Two genera and two species only are known, the Protopterus anticctcus of
tropical Africa, which has three external branchial appendages, and the Lepidosircn paradoxa of
Brazil, which is destitute of external appendages.

INTRODUCTION. xxiii

Sub-class III. — GANOIDEI has the skeleton more or less ossified ; the scales often are
hard and polished (701/0?, "brightness"); ventral fins, when present, are abdominal; the
intestine has a spiral valve. It is divided into two orders :

I. — HoLOSTEi. Body covered with scales ; skeleton bony.

A. Scales cycloid, i. Ajuiidcc (Bowfin or Mudfish of the fresh waters of North America).

B. Scales ganoid.

(a) Fins without fulcra. 2. Polyptcrida. Fresh waters of Central and Western Africa.
{b) Fins with fulcra. 3. Lepidosteida^ as the Bony Pike (L. oiseus) of North America.
II.— Chondrostei. Skin naked, or with osseous bucklers; skeleton partly cartilaginous.

A. Mouth small, transverse, inferior. Acipenserida (Sturgeons).

B. Mouth lateral, very wide. Polyodontidce (Spoonbill Sturgeon of the Mississippi and
tributaries).

Fresh-water representative of A is met with in the Sturgeon.

Sub-class IV. — CHONDROPTERYGII. In this sub-class the fish have a cartilaginous
skeleton, and the skull is without sutures ; the tail has a produced upper lobe ; the gills are
attached to the skin by the outer margin, with several intervening gill-openings ; rarely with
one gill-opening only ; no gill-cover ; no air-bladder ; intestine with a spiral valve ; ovaries
with few and large ova impregnated internally, and in some cases developed internally. Males
with prehensile organs attached to the ventral fins. Contains two orders.

I. — HoLOCEPHALA. One external gill-opening only, as in the Cliiincera vioiistrosa (Arctic
Chimcera).

II. — -Plagiostomata. From five to seven gill -openings.

Sub-order 1. — Selachoidei. Gill-openings lateral (Sharks and Dog-fish).

Sub-order 2. — Baioidci. Gill-openings ventral (Rays).

Of this sub-class there is no British fresh-water representative.

Sub-class V. — CYCLOSTOMATA, contains fishes whose skeletons are cartilaginous, and
notochordal, which have no ribs, no real jaws ; whose skull is not separate from the vertebral
column, and which are limbless ; the -gills have no branchial arches, but are in the form of
pouches or sacs, generally seven in number on each side of the neck ; there is only one nasal
aperture ; and the heart has no bulbus arteriosus. The mouth is suctorial in the mature
form, or crescent-shaped in the larval form. The alimentary canal is simple, straight, without
caecal appendages, pancreas, or spleen.

There are two families, viz :

I.- — Pctromyzontida, in which the nasal duct terminates blind, not penetrating the palate;
as in the Lampreys.

2. — MyxinidcE, in which the nasal duct penetrates the palate, (Glutinous Hag).

In the sub-class VI. — LEPTOCARDII, the only representative, I believe, is the Lancelet
{Branchios/oiiia laiiccolattuii,) occasionally found on the English southern coasts. This fish
occupies the lowest scale amongst vertebrate animals ; its skeleton is membrano-cartilaginous
and notochordal ; it has no ribs, no brain, pulsating sinuses in place of a heart ; the blood is
colourless ; the respiratory cavity is confluent with the abdominal cavity, the branchial clefts
are numerous, and the water is expelled by an opening in front of the vent. There are no
jaws.

The British ichthyological fauna numbers about two hundred and fifty species, of which
about fifty-five are either permanently or periodically inhabitants of fresh water. With the
exception of the Sturgeon and the Lampreys, all the fresh-water fishes of the British Isles
belong to the great sub-class Teleostei, and to the orders, I. Acanthopterygii, which contains
six species ; III. Anacanthini, two species ; and IV. Physos'.oini, all the remaining species,
represented by the families Cyprinida, Clupcida, Esocidce, Salinoiiidcc, and Jldiiraiiidcr.

xxiv INTRODUCTION.

Fish, like other creatures, are subject to diseases. Various parasites, either in the form
of E7itozoa or Epizoa, find a lodgment within or upon their bodies. The internal parasitic
hosts are very numerous ; they occur generally in the stomach, pyloric appendages, and
intestine, in the form of various kinds of tapeworm {tmiia), or small filamentous annelids (ascarii).
Sometimes intermuscular parasites are found, but this is less common, I believe, in fish
belonging to this country than in some foreign species. The Epizoa are found on the surface
of the bodies of fishes ; various forms of Crustacea, such as Leniaa, LepcopJitharies, Argulus
foliaceus, attack them ; the curious little Gyrodadylm clegans I have found inside the gills of
the Three-spined Stickleback; the young fry of the fresh-water swan mussel {Anodonta cyg)iea),
I have detected on the fins of the Perch, Stickleback, and a few other fishes ; Pike are
sometimes, when in a weak and unhealthy state, covered with that curious little discophorous
annelid, Piscicola. As a rule, however, I do not think that parasitic guests affect fish very
seriously. When epizoa, or external parasites, abound to a great extent, the fish is, no
doubt, injured by them, and a weakly condition of the fish may be to some extent the cause
of their attacks. But although the presence of animal parasites, whether external on the
skin or internal within the viscera, may be unproductive of much serious mischief, it is quite
different with certain subtle forms of vegetable growth, which often occasion fearful destruction,
like some epidemic amongst the higher animals.

One essential condition for health in a fish is undoubtedly pure water; this is specially
the case in the Sahnonida. Some fish, however, will certainly exist, and apparently thrive, in
water which can by no means be called pure. I have taken the Three-spined Stickleback
from very foul ditches indeed. Carp and Tench will do fairly well in muddy pools, but they
will do better still, and prove more fitted for the table, if kept in ponds supplied by
bubbling springs, and containing aquatic plants of various kinds, with a muddy bottom in
which they can hybernate In the cold winter. As a rule salt-water fishes are much less
liable to suffer from parasitic attacks than fresh-water species. Mr. Jackson, the able Curator
of the Southport Aquarium, tells me that fresh-water fish do not thrive In confinement ;
that they are extremely liable to be attacked, to an Injurious extent, by parasites, but that this Is
not the case with fish in the salt-water tanks. One of the most dreaded and fatal of all the
diseases to which piscine nature Is subject, occurs In the form of white flocculent patches on
the tall, head, or other parts of a fish's body. Everyone, with the slightest experience, must
have observed what I am alluding to. If he has merely kept Goldfish In glass globes.
This white filamentous growth is either a fungus, or some plant related to a fungus ; it is
known by the name of Saprolegnia ferax, and sometimes does incalculable mischief In some
of our Salmon rivers. In ponds or tanks where young Trout are artificially cultivated,
thousands often die from the attacks of Saprolegnia ferax ; and I feel certain, from what I
have noticed myself, that this fatality is primarily caused by overcrowding In a water which
has too high a temperature. It Is generally easier to prevent the appearance of a disease
than to stop its ravages when it has once begun. Now it Is an ascertained fact that
fungi of all kinds require for their development a certain warmth of temperature, and that
cold will prevent the spores of a fungus from germinating. This holds good with regard
to the larger kinds of fungi, as well as to those almost infinitesimal atoms, such as
Bacteria, Bacillaria, &c., which are doubtless at the root of many zymotic diseases affecting
men and other highly organized animals.

INTRODUCTION. xxv

On the subject of the fungoid growth known as Saprolcgnia fcrax affecting Salmon, I
cannot do better than quote the remarks of my friend, Mr. W. G. Smith, a very competent
authority on all questions relating to mycology. He writes: —

"For several weeks past the newspapers have contained accounts of the diseased condition of various fish in
several of our northern rivers — principally the Esk and Eden. The disease of the fish is caused by the attack of a
fungus. No doubt every one with a slight acquaintance with fungi suspected from the first that the disease was
similar to the familiar disease of Goldfish in aquaria, and no other than the common Saprolegnia ferax. From material
kindly forwarded to the writer for examination from Carlisle by Mr. George Brookter, of Huddersfield, there seems
to be no reason to doubt the identity of the parasite with the common pest of Carp — Saprolegnia ferax.

According to the newspaper reports we find that the owners of the Salmon fisheries on the Tweed, and the
Commissioners to whom the protection of the fisheries is entrusted, have for years been disturbed, distressed, and
annoyed by a great mortality which comes over the fish towards the end of the spawning season. Any time during
February, and anywhere between Stobo and Berwick, dead Salmon may be seen by the half dozen in every pool.
The epidemic is thus described: — Large numbers of Salmon — not only kelts, but clean fish lately arrived from the
sea — appear to be affected with an epidemic which destroys hundreds of them. The head and tail first, and gradually
the whole body is attacked by a disease which appears to eat away the flesh, turning it white, and giving the fish
the appearance of being affected with leprosy. Such fish are entirely unfit for food. Correspondents describe them
as leaping out of the water, as if in pain and in frantic efforts to escape; some return to the sea, but many perish
in their attempts to reach the salt water. The Salmon caught in the estuary are not diseased in this way, and, as
the epidemic is said to be spreading to the Trout, it would appear that some peculiar condition in the fresh water
is the cause of the remarkable phenomena. Some of these characteristics of the disease are not confirmed by a more
correct observation and less hasty deduction, but what is said enables one to recognise the malady which for several
years past has slain its thousands of Salmon on the Tweed. In both rivers the afflicted animals suff"er violent pain,
and rush blindly about as if brain disease existed through generally inflammatory action, and in both rivers the dead
bodies present a similar appearance.

The various theories which have been published in the daily papers as to the cause of the disease and the
'cause of the fungus' have no foundation in fact. The most common theory seems to be that the Salmon die from
disease induced from inflammatory action arising from retention of the milt. The theory of the fishery owners and
the Commissioners does not afford even the small consolation that the fish die a natural death, for they hold, and
are ready to affirm on oath, that the vile pollutions of the woollen mills and towns on Tweedside cause all the evil.
The controversy has continued for years, but now some facts have turned up in Cumberland and Westmoreland which
must carry a verdict of acquittal for the millowners. A short time ago large numbers of dead Salmon were found
in the Kent, a river which is as pure as Thirlemere itself. No pollution, wilful or accidental, could be traced, and
the authorities had to confess their ignorance of the cause of death, coming to the illogical conclusion that it arose
from exhaustion after spawning, oblivious apparently that this has happened every year since Kent was a river, and
the deaths have been heard of only now. From a statement in the Times it appears that things piscatorial are much
worse in the Eden, which flows through a beautiful country guiltless of the offences of factories.

The Carlisle Journal says, 'Large numbers of kelts — that is, fish that have spawned — are found in pools and
floating down the stream dead and dying. The appearance of the disease is that of a white fungus. This affects
the head of the fish, then it attacks the tail, and subsequently the fins. In some instances the fungus grows so
plentifully that the fish appears to be swimming about with a white nightcap over its head. Salmon smolts and
Trout are also affected by the disease. An unusual number of kelts have remained in the Eden this year, and many
of them have died; so many, in fact, that the water bailiffs have been employed in picking them out of the water
and burying them.'

This disease is by no means confined to Salmon and young Salmon (smolts), but Trout, Eels, Lampreys, Flounders,
Minnows, and other fish, are equally affected. A watcher on the Esk informed Mr. Brookter that the disease nearly
always starts at the nose, and gradually spreads over the head; the fish, he affirmed, would come to a still part of
the river with only a small patch on the nose, and in two or three days the patch would have extended over the
head, and at the same time have appeared on the base of the fins and tail. The disease is said to be generally
confined to the parts mentioned, unless the fish has had a bruise or scar anywhere so as to remove the scales. From
an examination of actual specimens, however, it seems proved that the disease by no means always commences at
the head. With a very low power of the microscope the fungus will be seen to consist of a dense mass of matted
threads without joints, and a thick forest of minute transparent clubs.

If asked for a reason for the uncommon abundance of the fungus this year, I should be inclined to refer it to
the extraordinary mildness of the late winter. Severe weather, or a sudden change of temperature, will generally
collapse fungi of the nature of Saprolegnia ferax, as will several dilute chemical infusions, and that without damaging
the fish ; but an experiment, though successful in an aquarium, might possibly fail in a large river.

The fungus has been described as infesting the dead, as well as the living, fish; but with me the fungus has
invariably vanished with the death of the fish. Dead fish are certainly covered with a white cottony coating, but
on an examination of this flocculent mass, under the microscope, it is found to consist wholly of white granular
matter, consisting of bacteria, monads, etc., and no fungus threads or fruit belonging to Saprolcgnia fera.x can be
seen.

The disease has been so virulent on the Esk, during the present spring, that the watchers have in some instances
buried as many as three hundred and fifty fish in three days between Langholm and Longtown." — Gardeners'' Chronicle,
pp. 560-5G1, 1878.

xxvi INTRODUCTION.

Pisciculturists, interested in the artificial rearing of the SalmonidcE, should bear in mind
the following, as I think, important essentials for success : — *

1. The water in which the ova or young fry are placed should be cold, at a temperature
of 37° to 47°.

2. The fry should be always supplied with gravel, stones, or projecting pieces of rock-
work, under which they can shelter.

3. The pond, tank, or reservoir should always be covered over with boards or other
material, to exclude the hot rays of the sun.

4. Overcrowding must be avoided, or the fish will be attacked with Saprolcgnia fcrax, an
epidemic which when once begun, it will be found almost, if not quite, impossible to stop.

5. A stream of pure cold water should incessantly be running, day and night, briskly
through the preserve.

* The best food for young Trout and Salmon is a hard-boiled ^gg, passed b_v pressure and friction through
the gratings of a fine strainer.

;RITISH IRESH-WATER glSHES.

Pn the fHAMBS, NEAR J^OEBUCK JnN.

Order I.
A CANTHOPTERYGII.

Family
PERCID/E.

Perch.

{Pcira fluviafilis.)

Perke,

Perca,

Perca fluviaiilis,

Aristotle, H. A., ii. 9 § +; 12 § 13, vi. 13 § 2.
Pliny, xxxii. 9; Auson., Id. x. 113.

Rondel., ii. 196; Willughby, iv. c. 14, p. 291; Lin., i. p. 481; Yarrell, Brit.
Fish., i. p. J ; GOnther's Cat. i. p. 58; Couch's Fish. Brit. Isles, i. 185.

Characters of the Genus Perca. — "Seven branchiostegals. All the teeth villiform, without canines; teeth on the
palatine bones, tongue smooth. Two dorsals; the first with thirteen or fourteen spines; anal fin with two spines;
operculum spiniferous; prseoperculum and prseorbital serrated. Scales small; head naked above." — Gdnther.

OF the family Pcrcida there are only two British fresh-water species, the Common Perch
{Perca fluviaiilis) of our ponds, lakes, and rivers, and the Ruffe or Pope. The Perch
was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans. Aristotle speaks of it under the name of

2 PERCH.

nkpK-ii ; he says that the Perch produces its eggs in a continuous series like frogs, and that
the fishermen unwind the broad entangled mass from among the reeds in ponds ; this
description at once enables us to identify the fish with certainty; but Aristotle under the
same name seems to have also included some marine species, as the Bass or Sea Perch.
Pliny recommends the burnt ashes of salted perch-heads as a remedy to dispel pustules
(xxxii. 9). Ausonius was certainly acquainted with the fresh-water Perch, and appreciated its
excellent qualities as food when he says —

" Nee te delicias mensarum, perca, silebo,
Amnigenas inter pisces dignande marinis,
Solus puniceis facilis contendere mullis." (x. iij-)

"Nor will I pass thee over in silence, O perch, the delicacy of the tables, worth_v among river-fish to be compared
with sea-fish ; thou alone art able to contend with the red mullets."

The Perch occurs in many of the fresh waters of Europe, and in Asiatic Russia. In
England it is extremely common in rivers, lakes, ponds, and canals; in Wales it is said lo
be rather a local fish and chiefly confined to stagnant waters ; in Scotland it is not found
north of the Forth, except where it has been introduced ; in all the almost countless waters
of the northern counties of Scotland, Yarrell states that the Perch is said to be wanting ;
farther north, as in Orkney and Shetland, the Perch does not occur, while still farther north,
as in various parts of Scandinavia, it is again found. In the rivers and lakes of Ireland
the Perch has been long known to occur. According to Couch the Perch is not a native
of Cornwall, though it has been introduced within the present century, and where found it
thrives well.

Perch deposit their spawn during the month of April and at the beginning of May,
and a most curious and beautiful object is the spawn which they produce ; it consists of a
broad band of network of pearl-like eggs, a foot or considerably more in length ; it is
unfortunately very readily discerned, as it adheres to bushes or weeds in the water ; conse-
quently vast quantities of the spawn are devoured by ducks, swans, and other enemies. The
number of eggs contained in one of these pearly festoons has been estimated at the enormous
quantity of 155,000 and 280,000; the band is a hollow tube, and can be placed on the
wrist as a bracelet.

The Perch attains to about the size of two inches and a quarter in a year, and a two
year old will measure about five inches. I believe that when two years old they are able to
mature spawn. The growth of Perch, as of other fish, depends in a great measure upon
the localities where they are found. In large pools, and in rivers where the fish are not
too numerous, and where food is abundant. Perch grow to a large size, but in small ponds
they never attain to any size, though they will breed abundantly. Being voracious feeders,
food is a very important consideration, and where ponds abound with these fish a sufficiency
of food is not easily obtained. Some pisciculturists recommend that the sexes should be
separated, the females being placed in one piece of water and the males in another ; where
this is done the Perch are said to grow well and rapidly. There is no fish, perhaps, that
gives better sport to the youthful angler than the Perch; bold, and always ready for a worm,
minnow, or other food, they fall easy victims to the baited hook. The following instance of
the voracity of the Perch is given by Mr. Cholmondeley Pennell in the Angler A\^turali$t,
(p. 61):-

" A very singular, if not unparalleled instance of the voracity of the Perch occurred to
me when fishing in Windermere. In removing the hook from the jaws of a fish, one eye
was accidentally displaced, and remained adhering to it. Knowing the reparative capabilities
of piscine organization, I returned the maimed Perch, which was too small for the basket,
to the lake, and being somewhat scant of minnows, threw the line in again with the eye

PERCH. 3

attached as a bait — there being no other of any description on the hook. The float disap-
peared almost instantly; and on landing the new comer, it turned out to be the fish I had
the moment before thrown in, and which had thus been actually caught by his own eye."

Perch are for the most part gregarious, and swim in shoals, so that when the angler
has come across a shoal he generally manages to catch several. I have, on some occasions,
been very successful in taking large numbers of good-sized Perch by means of eel-lines,
the hooks being baited with a lob-worm, and the line thrown into the water with the bait
on the ground, the other end of the line being fastened to the bank by a peg. Minnows
are very attractive bait to the Perch, and fishing with one of these natural baits is a
successful method of taking good fish ; but so voracious are they that they will take
almost any bait, and I have frequently caught them with an artificial fly when fishing for
trout. According to Mr. Jesse, Perch may be attracted to a certain locality by placing a
number of live minnows in a glass bottle, the mouth being closed with a piece of perforated
zinc to admit ingress and egress of water. A minnow as a bait is then dropped quietly
among the assembled Perch, which is immediately taken. A Perch of a pound to two
pounds weight may be considered a good-sized fish ; instances of their reaching the weight
of four, five, six, and even nine pounds are on record.

Mr. F. Buckland mentions a curious epidemic disease as occasionally occurring among
Perch. In 1867 a Perch-plague is said to have destroyed hundreds of thousands of these
fish in the Lake of Geneva; according to the investigations of Dr. Forel and Dr. Du Plesis
this disease was caused by the presence in the blood of the fish of certain minute fungi.
This epidemic is said to occur not unfrequently in England {Famil. Hist. Brit. Fish. p. 5.)

The flesh of the Perch is excellent, being in my opinion unsurpassed by any non-migratory
fresh-water species with the exception of the eel ; it more nearly resembles the sole than any
other fresh-water fish in the quality and flavour of its flesh.

Some writers speak of a deformed variety of Perch, with an elevated back and distorted
tail, as occurring in Sweden, and lakes in the north of Europe, and in Llyn Raithlyn,
Merionethshire. A figure of this variety of Perch may be seen in Daniel's Rural Sports,
p. 247. Perch almost entirely white have been occasionally found, and Yarrell mentions his
having received specimens from Yorkshire, which were of a uniform slate-grey colour with a
silvery tint, and adds that the fish retained the peculiarity of colour when transferred into
other waters. Mr. C. Pennell states that he has taken deformed Perch in some ponds near
New Brighton, Cheshire, and that they are not uncommon in other neighbourhoods.

The following is the formula of the number of fin rays in the Perch :■ — ■ i

Dorsal 14 — 15, all spinous; i — 2 spinous -H 13 — 1+ soft.

Pectoral 14, all soft.

Ventral i spinous -f- 5 soft.

Anal 2 spinous -|- 8 — 9 soft.

Caudal or tail fin 17 rays soft.

The stomachal appendages or pyloric cceca 3.

The Perch, which is one of the most beautiful of our fresh-water fishes, has the upper
part of the body a rich greenish brown, passing into golden yellowish white below; belly
white ; the sides are marked with about seven broad black transverse bands ; the first dorsal
fin is large and prickly, having a black patch on the posterior part; the second dorsal and
pectoral fin pale brown ; ventral, anal, and caudal bright vermilion ; the eye large and full,
with golden irides ; przeoperculum notched below and serrated on the posterior edge ; oper-
culum smooth, ending in a flattened point directed backwards ; branchiostegals seven ; lateral
line distinct, at first ascending, then gradually descending, ending at about the middle of
the tail.

4 PERCH.

Our Eng-lish word Perch, which is seen also in the Italian Pergesa and the French
Perche, is derived from the Latin pcrca, and that from the Greek Hkpicq, from ivkpKo^—-wepK.vo<;,
"dark coloured," perhaps from the broad black transverse bands on the sides of the fish.

The figure on the plate is drawn from a fine specimen caught in the month of June.

MCZ LIBRARY
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
CAMBRIDGE. MA USA

pN THE y^VON, SrREN3HA\\ pv.EACH.

Oid,r T.
A CANTHOPTERVGIl.

Family
PERCID.^.

^UFFE OR ^;gOPE

{Acerina ci-nuta.)

Cernua fluviatUis,

Perca jluviat. genus minus,

Perca cernua,

Acr.rina vulgaris,

Aspro,

Gesner, De Acjuatil. p. iqi; \Vili,ughi;v, p. 33+.

Gesner, p. 701.

LiNXyEus; Bloch, pi. 53, f- 2.

Cuv. ET Valenc, iii. p. +, pi. 41 ; Yakkei.l, Brit. Fish., i. p. i;

Gunthek's Cat. i. 72.
Couch, Fish. Brit. Isles, i. p. 193, pi. +1.

Characters 0/ the Genus Acerixa. — "Seven branchiostegals. All the teeth villiform, without canines: no teeth on
the palatine bones or on the tontjiie. One dorsal, with thirteen to nineteen spines; the anal fin with two; operculum
and prcBoperculum spiniferous. Mucifcrous channels of the bones of the skull ver_v developed. Scales rather small."

GiJNTHER.

THE Ruffe, Jack Ruffe, Daddy Ruffe, or Pope, as this fish is called, does not appear to
be noticed anywhere in the writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans. According to
Cuvier, the learned Dr. John Caius (born 15 10) first discovered this fish, and sent a figure
of it to Gesner, who published it. Gesner, however, knew of the existence of the Ruffe from

6 RUFFE OR POPE.

what Belon had written before Caius sent the figure to him, and had already given a good
description of it. He says that in England it was known by the name of the Ruffe, "ab
asperitate dictus," and that Caius had given it, for the same reason, the name of asprciio.

The Ruffe is a much smaller fish than the Perch, and is common in most of the rivers
and canals of the midland and some other counties of England. Couch says it is not found
in Cornwall or Devonshire, in Scotland, or the Isle of Wight ; nor is it enumerated by iVIr.
Thompson among the fishes of Ireland. In Gesner's time it was rarely found in the Thames,
but at present it occurs there in greater or less numbers, as is also the case in the Cam.
According to Dr. Giinther the Ru^fe is found in the rivers of France, Switzerland, Germany,
Sweden, Norway, Russia, and Siberia. It is tolerably common in some of the canals and
ponds of Shropshire, and I have had no difficulty in obtaining specimens for examination. In
habits it resembles the Perch. Its food consists of small worms, larvae of insects, small
molluscous animals, etc. It is a bold biter, and affords good sport to the young angler,
being readily taken with a small worm ; the Ruffe being, like the Gudgeon, chiefly a bottom
swimmer, the baited hook should be near the ground. No doubt the Ruffe thrives best in
rivers or in ponds through which water is constantly running, and in such localities it grows
well, sometimes attaining to a length of .seven inches and a weight of about two ounces and
a half The finest Ruffe I ever saw were caught in a pond through which fresh river-water
kept flowing, belonging to R. Masefield, Esq., of EUerton Hall, Shropshire: a fish six inches
in length was by no means an uncommon specimen.

The Ruffe, resembling in outward characters and markings both the Perch and the Gudgeon,
has sometimes, but erroneously, been considered a hybrid between the two ; although there is
actual proof that closely allied species do occasionally, and perhaps not unfrequently, cross,
this is not true of fishes so very distantly related as the Perch and the Gudgeon.

The spawning season is in April ; Mr. Couch says that the roe, which is shed in large
quantity, is deposited in deep water on sandy ground. ]\Ir. Cholmondeley Pennell, on the
other hand, asserts that the ova are placed among the rushes and flags at the margin of the
water; with this statement also Yarrell agrees. I am not able to decide between authorities
in this case, and as April is now over, I must wait for another spawning season.

The Ruffe is excellent food for the table, resembling that of the Perch, but of a shorter
texture; as Dame Juliana Berners says, "it is a right holsom fys.she." Its general small
size, however, prevents its being of much use in this respect ; it is better adapted for a bait
in Pike trolling. The spinous character of the dorsal fin of this fish does not in the slightest
degree interfere with its being a good bait ; the same is the case with the Perch ; and it is
quite untrue to assert that the Pike, dreading these dorsal spikes, will refuse to attack a
Perch. For myself I prefer a small Perch to any other bait for Pike; I find it quite as
attractive as Roach or Dace, and being of firmer flesh, it will last the longer on the spinning
tackle.

The Ruffe (rough) derives its name from the character of the scales and the spinous
portion of the dorsal fin ; with this we may compare the Ruft" among birds from its frill-like
collar of rough feathers. The meaning of the word Pope as given to this fish is not at all
clear. From the expression of "Daddy Ruff," applied to it in Shropshire, one would naturally
infer that allusion in some way is made to the Pope, Papa, or Father of Rome. According
to Halliwell, Pope is sometimes a term of contempt. "What a Pope of a thing" is Dorset
dialect. May the reference be to the small size of the fish when compared with the Perch,
"the genus minus," indeed, of old Gesner? I know not. The scientific generic name of
acerina must come from the Latin accr, in allusion to the "sharp" portion of the dorsal fin.
The specific name ccniua, "with head downwards," requires explanation.

The general colour of the Ruffe is greenish olive, spotted with brown ; belly white ; dorsal
fin continuous, not distinct as in the Perch ; first part spinous, the others flexible, spotted with

MILLERS THUMB. 7

brown, as is also the tail, which assumes a barred appearance ; g-ill cover ting-ed with greenish
pearl; head without scales. The fin rays are

Dorsal 13 — 15 spinous + 12 flexible.

Pectoral 13.

Ventral i spinous + 5 flexible.

Anal 2 spinous + 5 — 6.

Caudal 17.

Coeca pyloric 3, as in the Perch. Lateral line distinct.

The specimen from which the illustration was made was supplied by Mr. MasefielJ, of
Ellerton Hall, and was taken from a canal in November, 1877.

Orda- T.
A CANTHOPTERYGII.

Fa mil V
TRIGLID.F..

^MILLER'S JhUMB.

BULLHEAD. TOMMY LOGGE.

{Cot I US gobio.)

KOTTOS,

Coitus,
Coitus gobio.

Aristot., H. a. iv. 8 § 9; Boiros in Gesner De Aquat. p. 401.
Rondel., ii. p. 202.

LiNx. ; Cl'V. AND V.iLENc; Block; V.^rrt.ll, i. p. 71; Colxh, Fish. Brit. \A.
ii. p. 6; GiJNTHEK, Cat. ii. p. 156.

Characters of the Genus CoTXU.s. — " Head broad, depressed, rounded in front ; bod)' subc3-lindrical, compressed
posteriori}'; head and body covered with a soft and scaleless skin; lateral line present. Two dorsals of moderate
height. Pectoral rounded, with some or all the rays simple. Ventral thoracic. Jaws and vomer with villiform teeth
(vomerine teeth sometimes absent;) none on the palate. Air-bladder none; pyloric appendages in moderate number."

GiiNTHER.

THIS curiously-shaped little fi.sh, I think there is no doubt, is mentioned by Aristotle
when he is speaking on the question whether fishes are able to hear ; he says " there
occur in rivers certain little fish, found under stones, which some people call Co/fi ; from
their lying- under stones people catch them by striking the rocks with stones, when the fish
being stunned fall out, whence it is evident that fish have the sense of hearing-." The
Greek word coliiis means a head, and the little river fish with a large head which is common
under stones, can be no other than our Bullhead. Gesner has given a good description and
a recognisable figure of Cottns gobio. This fish is found in the fresh waters of Europe, and,
as Giinther says, probably of Northern Asia; it occurs in almost all the fresh-water streams
of Europe from Italy to Scandinavia. It is said to be common in Scotland, but according
to Thompson it is not found in Ireland. Yarrell, however, mentions its occurrence about

8 MILLERS THUMB.

Belfast and Londonderry. Thompson suspects there is some error in the record of this fish
being found in Ireland ; for it appears that other species of Cottus, as the Sea-Scorpion and
the Father-lasher, are occasionally called Miller's Thumbs in the North of Ireland. One
would suppose that if this fish was once introduced into Ireland, it would grow, thrive,
and multiply in the many suitable rivers of that country. From the well-known habits of
the fish to lurk frequently underneath stones, and to hide its dusky body among the gravel or
sand, it would be pretty secure from the attacks of enemies. However I should not advise
its introduction by any means into any waters where Trout or Salmon are found ; because
it is as I know a most voracious feeder, being especially fond of eggs and the newly-hatched
young ixy of other species of fish as well as of its own.

I dissected two females the other day, about the 15th. of April; the ovaries were full
of eggs almost ready for deposition ; the stomachs of the same two fish also contained a
great number of their own ova as well as of several of their young newly-hatched fry.
Whether the males are guilty of such infanticide I do not know ; but I am positive about
the females. The spawn consists of a mass of pink eggs, rather large considering the size
of the fish ; and this mass, which generally covers an area of about one inch and a half to
two inches, and is about half an inch thick, is always deposited under stones, to which it
adheres by a mucous secretion which accompanies the eggs. The depressed form of the
fish's head is admirably adapted for insertion under stones, and when this has been accom-
plished, the female with her broad and muscular pectoral fins hollows out the sand or mud
under the stone, and then, probably, turns her abdomen round and deposits her eggs. The
spawning takes place in April and the beginning of May, according to my observation.
Johnston and Willughby say that the female collects the spawn into little lumps on her
breast, where it is covered with a black membrane until it is hatched. But I feel sure
there is some mistake here; the black membrane appears to be the membranous ovisac,
which is black in the Miller's Thumb. Linnaeus and Fleming say the fish forms a nest on
the ground and broods over it, and Blumenbach says the same. I have never found the
eggs except in a mass adhering to the under side of stones ; I think it probable, however,
that the male fish acts as a protector to the eggs, as is the case with the Stickleback.
Izaak Walton and some others assert that the Miller's Thumb continues to spawn for several
months. I have never found the eggs but in the spring of the year.

I am told by one or two persons who have eaten this fish that it is very good indeed ;
when the head is excluded, however, there is but little left to eat. It is occasionally eaten
in Italy, and according to Pallas it is used as a charm against fever by some persons in
Russia; others "suspend it horizontally, carefully balanced by a single thread, and thus
poised, but allowed at the same time freedom of motion, they believe this fish possesses the
property of indicating, by the direction of the head, the point of the compass from which the
wind blows." — (Yarrell, i. 76.) The colour of the flesh after boiling is said to be pink like
Salmon ; but this is not true ; some of the fins occasionally turn slightly pink, but the flesh
remains as white as it was before boiling.

The Miller's Thumb is supposed to resemble that organ in the miller, which is said to
assume a flattened form from frequently testing the flour. The head is very large, broad,
and depressed; a small curved, spine on the praeoperculum ; the body smooth and very slimy;
vent nearly midway between the snout and the tip of the tail ; body mottled with light and
dark brown ; belly white ; sides below lateral line spotted with black ; the lateral line very
straight ; first dorsal often fringed with orange red ; teeth small, villiform in both jaws and
on the vomer ; irides yellow ; pupils bluish black.

The usual length of this fish is about four inches; one of five inches would be above
the average. The Miller's Thumb having the first dorsal fin with spines projecting above
the membrane is placed in the Acanthopter}'gian order; but the spines are quite blunt, and

MILLERS THUMB. 9

there are none which are able to pierce the skin, like some of the fins in the Perch and
Ruffe.

The fin-ray formula in specimens I have examined is as follows : —

Dorsal 6 spinous + i6.
Pectoral ii — 13.
Ventral 4.
Anal 13.
Caudal 11 — 12.

The rays in all the fins are very thick and elastic ; those of the first dorsal scarcely
project above the membrane.

The Bullhead is most tenacious of life ; hard blows on the head and complete evisceration
I have known to be unable to cause speedy extinction of life. It resembles an Eel in this
respect.

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D
O

■^'

E-^

o
la
2

-=»w

pASDALE, pRASMERE.

Order I.
A CANTHOPTERYGII.

Family
GA STEROSTEW.E.

Hit

'hree-spined Stickleback.

BARNSTICKLE. SHARPLIN. PRICKLEFISH.

fGasterosteics aculeatus.J

Gastcrostcus acnla's in dorso tribus,
Gasterostcus aculealus,

Gasierosteus irachurus,

Artedi, Spec, p. 96.

Lin., Sys., p. 489; Bloch, pi. 53, fig. 3; Donovan, Brit.

Fish. i. pi. 11; GiJNTHER, Cat. i. p. 2 ; Colxh's Fish.

Brit. Isles, i. p. 167.
Yarrell, i. p. 90.

Characters 0/ the Genus Gasterosteus.— "Form of body elongated; eyes lateral; cleft of mouth extending on the
sides of the muzzle, oblique; villiform teeth in both the jaws and on the pharyngo-branchials, none on the palate or
the tongue. Three branchiostegals. Opercular bones not armed; infraorbital arch articulated with prasoperculum;
parts of the skeleton forming external mails. Scales none, or in the form of scaly plates along the side. Isolated
spines before the dorsal fin; ventral fins abdominal, but pubic bones attached to the humeral arch; ventral with one
strong spine, and generally with another single short ray. Swim bladder simple, oblong; casca pylorica in small
number." — Gunther.

THE generic name of Gastrcostcus, ixom gastcr, "the belly," and osteon, "a bone," has reference
to the strong spiny ventral fin with which the fishes of this family are armed. Though

12 THREE-SPINED STICKLEBACK.

generally of a small size, the Sticklebacks yield to none in point of interest. There are four
well-marked British species, namely, the G. aculeatus (three-spined), G. spiniilosus (four-spined),
G. pungitius (ten-spined), and the G. brachycentrus (short-spined) ; the other so-called species, as
the G. gvmnurus (smooth-tailed), G. semiarmatus (half-armed), and G. trachurus (rough-tailed),
are probably merely varieties of the G. aculeatus.

Our commonest species, the Three-spined Stickleback, is generally an inhabitant of fresh
water, and is to be found in ditches, shallow streams, ponds, and canals, but it also occurs
in salt and brackish water. If a specimen be suddenly transferred from a fresh-water aquarium
to a salt one, this little fish does not seem the least affected by the change, except that it
does not quite accommodate itself all at once to the greater buoyancy of the salt water.
According to Nilsson these fish are caught in incredible numbers in the Baltic about the
middle of November, when they assemble on the coasts of that sea, and are taken by fishermen
in boat loads. They are boiled, and the oil they contain is skimmed off the water: a bushel
of fish is said to yield two gallons of oil. The refuse is spread over the ground for manure.

The food of the Stickleback consists of small worms, larvae, and the small Crustacea, as
the Cyclops, cypris, and daphnia among the Entomostraca, and the young of the fresh-water
shrimps (Gammarus pulcxj, and water wood-lice (Ascllus aquaticus); but so voracious and bold
is this little fish that it will attack almost any living thing. Thompson mentions that a small
party of G. spinulosus, the Four-spined Stickleback, was observed near Belfast in the act of
killing a horseleech, whose head they immediately devoured. I remember some years ago
keeping a small Pike in the same vessel with a number of Sticklebacks, and I shall never
forget the persistence with which first one and then another of these fish attacked the Pike's
tail. Occasionally the larger fish would retaliate and try to swallow one of its tormentors,
but the sauce piquant of those formidable spines always proved too potent. After a few violent
shakings of the head, the Stickleback was forcibly ejected from the cavernous jaws of its
would-be devourer. The result of these repeated attacks on the Pike's tail was a gradual
diminution of that organ, and I, feeling sorry for the victim of these cowardly attacks on the
rear, took him out of the aquarium and turned him into a pool of water. Sticklebacks are
very injurious to the eggs and fry of other fish, and must therefore be carefully excluded
from Trout preserves ; it is, however, no easy matter to get rid of these little pests when
they have once established themselves in a fish-pond. Perhaps the most curious and interesting
point in the natural history of these fish is their habit of making a nest and watching over
the eggs and young fry. The season for observing this habit is in the month of May. The
nest is composed of decayed fibres of aquatic plants, and matted together into a mass more
or less round, and placed at the bottom of the water partly covered by the mud or sand;
three or four circular holes are to be seen at the top of the nest ; the eggs are an aggregated
mass of a brown colour, and of the size of small shot. Until pointed out, a Stickleback's
nest is a difficult prize to discover, but when once the form has been well impressed on the
eye, detection of any number of nests is an easy task. The male fish alone protects the nest ;
if it were not for his fatherly care, I suspect that the race of Sticklebacks would in time
become extinct, the ova and young fry falling easy prey to the other members of the family.

Some years ago I had an opportunity of observing how necessary for the protection of
a young Stickleback family is the presence of the male parent. I noticed a brilliant fish
hovering over his nest, and fanning the water incessantly with his fins. Having captured
him, I placed him with one or two others into my collecting bottle. Here I kept him for
about half an hour, whilst I amused myself by watching the manners and customs of the
fish in their natural haunts. My eye was soon arrested by the spectacle of a large crowd
of hungry marauders in the shape of other Sticklebacks of all ages and both sexes that had
gathered around the nest of the very parent whom I had a prisoner in my bottle. They
rushed at the nest like terriers at a badger, and began to pull it in pieces, knowing there

TEN-SPINED STICKLEBACK. 13

was something good inside. Conscience-stricken that I was the author of this terrible catas-
trophe— for as long as the father-fish was present to protect his property the alien cannibals
dared not approach — I restored my prisoner to the water, and gently put him in over the
spot where about thirty remorseless strangers were devastating the nest and devouring the
contents. For the space of about half a minute my liberated captive hardly seemed to know
where he was, or what he had been doing. Soon, however, he collects his scattered senses,
and discovering the appalling nature of the fact, rushes to the rescue ; first one and then
another invader is attacked, and compelled to beat a hasty retreat, and wonderful to relate,
in the space of about ten minutes not a foe was to be seen, and the brave defender was left
in undisturbed possession of the field. What was to happen next ? The conqueror surveys
the ruined state of affairs,

"Haec loca vi quondam et vasta convulsa ruina."

and hastens to repair the fearful breaches which the besiegers had made. This he does by
bringing mouthfuls of weed and bits of rotten twigs and other things, which he places upon
the nest, using his nose to hammer the materials together.

The observation of these fish when confined in an aquarium is attended with as much
delight as in their native ponds. The development of the ova may be watched under the
microscope — not however so readily as in a Perch's eggs — and the little occupants be seen to
jerk about their tails some time before they leave the vitelline membrane. Strange, undevel-
oped things in their rudimentary mouth and vitelline sac adhering to the abdomen, they cannot
help attracting attention and exciting curiosity. For the first few days the little fry are seen
close to the nest, lying for the most part on their sides inactively ; but as they grow they
become more vigorous, and anxious to see something of the world. But the father-fish is slow
to encourage such juvenile desires, for is he not well aware that danger lurks on every side?
And so, as I myself have seen, should some little occupant of the nursery, moved by piscine
curiosity, stray away a little too far from the paternal abode, " does his father know he is
out?" Yes, indeed, very soon, and after him he hies, seizes the young truant in his mouth,
as a cat would her kitten, and shoots him out right upon the nest.

I have no personal knowledge of the several varieties of G. aciilcatiis ; they are thus
described by Giinther : —

G. gynmurus. — "Four or five scaly plates above the pectoral fin, the remainder of the
body naked. Middle and southern parts of Europe, England, France, South Germany, Baltic."
This appears to be G. Iciurus of Yarrell (i. p. 95), and the Quarter-armed Stickleback of
Parnell {Fishes of the Frith of Forth, p. 190, pi. 25).

G. sc7niarmatus. — "The front part of the side with a series of ten to fifteen scaly plates.
France, Belgium, England."

G. semiloricatus. — "The series of scales reachinij to the front end of the caudal keel.
France, Ireland." (See Thompson's Nat. Hist. Ireland.)

G. trachurus. — "The sides of body and tail entirely covered with a series of scaly plates.
North parts of Europe, North Germany, England, France." This is the general type of
aeideatiis.

The fin raj'S in G. aculeatits are

Dorsal 3 spines -\- lo — 12.
Pectoral 10.

Anal I spine -|- 8 — 9.

Ventral i spine -h i.

The Ten-spined Stickleback, (G. pimgitius,) a well-marked species, is one of the
smallest of British fishes. Though generally distributed, it is not nearly so common as the
Three-spined. I occasionally obtain specimens from the ditches on Preston-Weald Moors,

14 FOUR-SPINED STICKLEBACK. SHORT-SPINED STICKLEBACK.

Shropshire; but I have not had much opportunity of studying the habits of this little fish.
It is nidificatory like the Three-spined, and probably the rest of the family. It is found in
many of the creeks near the coast, and is said to ascend the rivers in the spring to spawn;
but like the foregoing species, it is often a permanent resident in our fresh-water ditches and
ponds. Sticklebacks are frequently caught with whitebait or young herrings in the lower
portion of the Thames, and I have occasionally found some of these little fish on my plate
cooked with whitebait. The Ten-spined is distinguished from the rest by having its sides
quite naked, or free from lateral plates. It is usually about one inch to nearly two inches in
length; the general colour is olive green on the back; belly and sides silvery white, with
little black specks; the fins are pale yellowish white. It is sometimes called the Tinker, but
wherefore I know not. The fin ray formula is

Dorsal lo spinous + 9.
Pectoral 11.

Anal I spinous + g — 10.
Ventral i spinous + i.

The Four-spined Stickleback {G. spinulosus) appears to be very rare. It was first

discovered by Dr. J. Stark in a pond near Edinburgh in 1830. It is the smallest of all the

species, being not more than one inch and a quarter in length. Dr. Stark kept some of these

diminutive fish in tumblers, and fed them with small leeches and aquatic larvae. He found

them quite as voracious and even more pugnacious than the three-spined species. The

specimens in the British Museum are from the Isle of Arran and Berwick. The fin rays are

as follows : —

Dorsal 4 spinous -1- 8.
Pectoral g.

Ventral i spinous -|- i.
Anal I spinous -|- 8.

According to Dr. Stark the Four-spined Stickleback has all the varied colours of the other
species of the genus, except the bright red found in the males during the breeding season.

The Short-spined Stickleback (G. brachyccntrus) is the largest of the family, attaining
the length of three inches. It was first procured for Mr. Thompson from pools along the
margin of Lough Neagh, Dublin, etc. He gives one English habitat, namely, Stowpool, near
Lichfield, whence in July, 1836, he obtained the largest example which had come under his
observation {Nat. Hist, of Ireland, iv. p. 86). The number of lateral plates above the pectoral
fin in this species agrees nearly with G. acitlcatiis van gymmirus, but the spines, as the specific
name indicates, are very short. The fin rays are

Dorsal 3 spinous -|- 13.
Anal I spinous -|- g.
Pectoral 10.
Ventral i spinous -)- i.

All the figures of the species and varieties on the Plate represent the fishes of the natural
adult size, with the exception of fig. 5, which is larger than the real fish. On the right hand
side may be seen a male in his bright red garb of the month of May, and a female in the
act of depositing her eggs in a half-formed nest; after the eggs are impregnated the female
retires, and the completion of the nest, as described above, as well as the guardianship of it
and its contents, devolves entirely upon the male.

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On the Prathay.

Order IV.
PHYSOSTOMI.

Family
CYPRINID^.

^ARP.

(Cyprinus carpio.)

Kuprinos,

Cyprinus,

Carp,

Cyprinus cirris quahior,

Cyprinus carpio.

Aristot., H. a., iv. 8 § 4; vi. 13 § 2; viii. 20 § 12.
Pliny, Nat. Hist. ix. 51; Gesner, De Aquatil., p. 309.
WiLLUGHBY, H. Pise. p. 245; Couch's Fish. Brit. Isles, vol. iv. p. 4.
Artedi, Syn. p. 25.

Lin., Syst. Nat. i. p. 525; Donov.<^n, Brit. Fish. v. pi. no; Yarrell, i.
p. 349; Gunther's Cat. vol. vii. p. 25.

Characters of the Genus Cyprinus. — "Scales large; dorsal fin long, with a more or less strong, serrated, osseous
ray; anal short. Snout rounded, obtuse; mouth anterior, rather narrow. Pharyngeal teeth 3. i. i — i. i. 3, molar-like.
Barbels four." — Gunther.

nnHE Carp was known to Aristotle under the Greek name Kvjrpivo^. He speaks of it as a
-*- river fish without a tongue, but having a fleshy roof to its mouth ; as producing eggs
five or six times a year, especially under the influence of the stars ; as having eggs about
the size of millet seed; and as being occasionally struck by the dog-star when swimming near
the surface. Aristotle nowhere tells us whether the flesh of the Carp was used as food ;
Athenseus, however, speaks of it as excellent in the quality of its flesh, and quotes Dorion as

i6 CARP.

enumerating the Carp among lake and river fish. — "A scaly fish {lepidotiii) which some people
call the Cyprinus." {Deipjiosoph, vii. 82.) From the Cyprinus being mentioned by Aristotle as
having a soft fleshy palate (popularly but erroneously called "Carp's tongue,") and by Dorion
in Atheneeus as being especially scaly, there is I think no reason to doubt that this fish was
known to the ancient Greeks, and as Athenaeus says, was eaten by them.

The Common Carp is an inhabitant of the temperate parts of Europe and Asia. It has
been long domesticated, and as Giinther observes, it has degenerated into many varieties. It
was probably introduced into this country, but neither the period when nor the locality whence
it was first brought is definitely known. Cassiodorus, a writer of the sixth century, is the
first to make use of the term carpa; he speaks of it as being delicate and costly, and supplied
to princes' tables, and as being produced in the Danube. Writers of the thirteenth century
designated this fish by the Latin terms carpera and carpo. "The Carpo of C^esarius," says
Beckmann, {Hist, of Invent., ii. p. 51, Bohn's Ed.), "appears to have been our Carp, because

its scales had a very great resemblance to those of the latter; for we are told that the

devil, once indulging in a frolic, appeared in a coat of mail, and had scales like the fish
carpo.'''' The carpera of another mediaeval writer, Vincent de Beauvais, certainly denotes the
Carp, as he speaks of this fish's craft in avoiding nets and rakes, and of its springing out of
the water and leaping over the nets. According to Linnaeus, Carp were first brought to
England about the year 1600; but he is certainly wrong here, because Dame Juliana Berners,
in her book on angling, published in i486, mentions the Carpe. It is "a daynteous fysshe,
but there ben but few in Englonde, and thereforre I wryte the lesse of hym. He is an evyll
fysshe to take, for he is so stronge enarmyd in the mouthe, that there maye noo weke harneys
hold hym." Now since the name of Carp is not to be found in the Anglo-Saxon Dictionary
of -^Ifric, Archbishop of York, who died in 105 1, and since it is spoken of by Dame Berners
in i486 as being a rare fish, it is probable its introduction into England would be at some
date between the years 105 1 and i486. The Carp is once mentioned by Shakspere, namely,
in As You Like It, Act v, sc. 2.

But from what country Carp were originally introduced into England it is impossible to
say. Webster, in his Dictionary, says they first came from Persia, but I know not what may
be his authority. When once established they would multiply fast, for they are most prolific,
and being entirely hardy and tenacious of life, they could readily be transported from place
to place. "Towards the middle of the sixteenth century," says Dr. Badham, "there was scarce
a country unacquainted with Carp; in many, stews on a vast scale were stocked exclusively
with Cyprini, and thus an unfailing supply of orthodox diet for Lent and meagre days was
never wanting in larder or pond."

Carp thrive best in temperate and southern climates; when transported to northern parts
they are said to decline in size. Carp spawn as a rule at the beginning of June, but the
time is in some measure dependent upon the state of the weather. They prefer a warm sunny
day, when a female, followed by two or three males, may be readily seen among the various
aquatic weeds upon which the little scattered eggs, like poppy seeds, are deposited. They
are said to be capable of spawning when three years old. It is not an unusual circumstance
for Carp to retain the spawn within the ovary for years ; they thus become enormously large
and uncomfortably distended. It is thought that they do not always or generally get rid
of the spawn at one time, but that they continue occasionally to spawn for four or five
months.

The food of the Carp consists in a great measure of the soft parts of aquatic plants,
and the growth of algae, such as desviidca: and diato?nacece, with which the plants are often
overspread, though it will also eat worms, insect-larvae, etc. : even small fish are said to be
sometimes eaten. From the form of the throat-teeth, which have worn-down crowns, resembling
the crowns of the molar-teeth of a quadruped, it would appear that the food of the Carp

CARP. 1 7

consists mainly of vegetables, and tliat portions of vegetable food are returned to the throat
and remasticated by these pharyngeal grinders. In cold wintry weather the Carp is more or
less dormant in the mud, like many other leather-mouthed vegetable fish-feeders. I have on
several occasions examined the stomachs and intestinal tract of Carp in the winter season,
but never found a vestige of any kind of food in them. Carp are perhaps the most wary
and shy of all fish, difficult to take by angling, and clever in avoiding the leads of the net
by burrowing under them in the mud, and in leaping over the corks. At the same time
they may be readily tamed, and taught to take their food from the hand.

The Carp is believed to be a very long-lived fish ; Gesner mentions an instance of one
living to be a hundred years old ; and Buffon speaks of one living in his time of the age of
one hundred and fifty years; but though there is nothing improbable in this supposition,
further confirmatory evidence of this extreme longevity would be desirable. The size of Carp
varies according as the locality is favourable for their growth. Yarrell says that Carp have
attained three pounds weight by their sixth year, and six pounds before their tenth year;
they are therefore not so rapid in their growth as some other fish, and on this account are
long lived. The largest English Carp I have read of is that mentioned by Mr. Manley, in
his pleasant little manual. Fish and Fishing. This fish was taken by a net out of Hartino-
Great Pond, near Petersfield, in 1858; its length without the tail was thirty-four inches, the
weight twenty-four pounds and a half; some of the scales were said to be of the size of half-
crowns. The Carp of the White Sitch Lake, Weston Hall, the seat of the Earl of Bradford,
are famous for attaining great size and weight. In a letter, dated April 14th., 1878, his
lordship writes to me, "There is a portrait of a Carp at Weston caught in the last century,
and mentioned in Daniell's Rural Sports, of nineteen pounds and a half, and we caught one
the other day which I think was more." It is said that in some of the German lakes they
grow to the weight of forty to fifty pounds, and that in Holland fish of twenty pounds
are not uncommon. The Carp of the Larian Lake (Como), said by Paul Giovio (Jovius) — •
born 1483 — to attain the enormous weight of two hundred pounds, and to be shot by arrows
from a cross-bow, I think we may put down as a fiction.

It is well known that Carp are exceedingly tenacious of life, and will live for a long time
out of water. There is no mechanical arrangement for retaining water in contact with the
gills, as exists in the Apodal, the Lophioid, and Labyrinthi-branch fishes. Professor Owen
associates with the branchial respiration and the apparatus of gristly arches and muscles the
peculiar development of the medulla oblongata as the centre of the vagal or respiratory nerves.
He writes, "the peculiarly developed vagal lobes may relate to the maintenance of the power
of the respiratory organs during a suspension of their natural actions." — {Comp. Anat. of
Vert., i. 287.)

In quality of flesh, as an article of food, generally speaking, Carp are little estimated ;
in ordinary ponds, and indeed even in rivers, the flesh has always more or less a muddy
flavour ; but after a Carp has been kept for some time in small ponds or stews, whose water
is supplied by perennial springs of bubbling fountains, the flesh has not the slightest muddy
flavour about it ; the vegetable growth in such stews affords ample food, and Carp become
exceedingly good and veiy fat. Such Carp are not often to be met with ; but let any con-
noisseur taste specimens of such fish as Mr. Masefield can supply, and he will acknowledge
that the culinary art as practised and recommended by Izaak Walton is not requisite. The
Carp should be merely boiled ; a little melted butter and walnut pickle is a better condiment
for a fountain-fed Carp than old Izaak's sweet marjoram, thyme, parsley, savory, rosemary,
onions, pickled oysters, anchovies, cloves, mace, orange and lemon-rinds, and claret wine, etc.,.
etc.

The Greek name Kuprinos is probably derived from Kiipris, "Cypris," a name of Aphrodite
or Venus, from the island where she was first worshipped ; and applied to the Carp on account

1 8 CARP.

of its extraordinary fecundity. The German Karpfen, the English Carp, are probably mere

modifications of the Greek Kmrpivo'^.

The fin rays are

Dorsal 22.
Pectoral 17.
Ventral 9.
Anal 8.

The scales are large ; general colour golden olive brown ; head and top of the back
darker; irides golden; belly yellowish white; tail forked; fins for the most part dark brown.

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CA:" MA USA

D
at
O

^EDDGELERT, fi . WaLES.

Order TV.
PHVSOSTOMT.

Family
Cl'PRINID.E.

ll/RUCIAN '(^^.ARP.

fCarassius vulgaris.)

Carassius,

Cyprinus pinna dorsi ossicuhrum viginii,

Cypritiia carassius,

Crucian,

Carassius vulgaris,

WiLLUGH., Hist. P. p. 249.

Artedi, Spec. Pise. p. 5, No. 5.

Linn., Sys. Nat. p. 526; Yarrell, i. p. 355.

Penn., Brit. Zool. iii. p. 319, pi. 72; Couch, Fish. Brit.

Isles, iv. p. 28.
SiEBOLD, Siisserwasserfishe, p. 98: GiJNTHER's Cat. vii. 29.

Characters 0/ /he Genus Carassius. — "This genus differs from Cyprinus in being without barbels; its pharyngeal
teeth are compressed in a single series, 4 — 4. Temperate Asia and Europe. Domesticated and degenerated into
numerous varieties." — Gu.mther.

rpiHE Crucian Carp derives its name from the German word for this fish, namely, i/u'
-*- Karaiisclu, from whence also the Latin Carassius has been formed. Lacepede calls it
the Hamburgh Carp, and some of our Thames fishermen know it by the name of the German
Carp. Probably this fish was originally introduced into our own country from Hamburgh, for
it is referred to by Linnaeus as being called, in the Transactions of the University of Upsal.
by the elder Cironovius Cyprinus Hamburghcr, as the locality where perhaps it was best known.

20 PRUSSIAN CARP.

The Crucian Carp was occasionally obtained by Yarrell from the Thames, between
Hammersmith and Windsor, where it sometimes attains a considerable size, and weighs a
pound and a half. It has been introduced into fishponds by various gentlemen interested in
pisciculture, and where the water is constantly supplied by running streams, this fish thrives
well ; and although its flesh cannot be considered dainty food, yet good well-nourished
specimens are by no means to be despised. According to Ekstr5m the Crucian Carp is
common in all parts of Scandinavia, inhabiting muddy and grassy lakes. Its spawning time
is said to be in May and June, and the eggs to be deposited on weeds. Like many of the
species of this family, the Crucian is eminently retentive of life, and will live for a long time
either without water or in water whose impurities would poison other fish; it also manages to
exist entirely without food for months, though, as may be supposed in such a condition, it
grows \erf thin. It is sometimes called the Bream Carp, because the general form of the
fish is flat and bream-like.

The whole length of the specimen before me, from the snout to the origin of the tail,
is six inches and a half; the greatest depth at the origin of the dorsal fin, which is in a line
with the origin of the ventral, is three inches; the tail is slightly . forked, but many specimens
have the tail nearly square. The lateral line, proceeding from near the top of the gill-opening
to the middle of the tail, is straight, and has thirty-four punctured scales. The back is of a
bronze colour, with slight reddish tinge ; below the lateral line the sides are light golden
yellow, each scale being minutely dotted with black ; the pectoral, ventral, and anal fins
reddish brown ; the tail is slightly red ; the back is ver}^ much arched ; the irides golden
yellow, with a tinge of red ; the pupils blue ; the first ray of the dorsal and anal fins is
serrated on the posterior edge ; the scales are large.

The fin-ray formula in this specimen is

Dorsal 20.
Pectoral 14.
Ventral 9.
Anal 8.

The specimen figured was supplied by j\Ir. Masefield, of Ellerton Hall.

^RUSSIAN ^ARP.

fCarassiiis vulgaris, var. Gibclio.J

npHE Prussian Carp, or Gibel Carj), which by Yarrell and some other ichthyologists has
-*- been considered a distinct species, is by other authorities, as by Giinther, considered
merely as a variety of the Crucian. Whether this fish be entitled to rank as a distinct species,
I will not pretend to say; at any rate if not specifically distinct, the Prussian Carp is a well
marked variety. The Prussian Carp is the Cyprmus gibclio of Bloch, Lacepede, Yarrell, Couch,
and other writers; the specific name oi gibclio, from the German Giebel, "a gable" or "ridge
of a house," would seem to imply that the term was originally given to the Crucian variety,
whose back rises abruptly from the head, and forms a prominent ridge; by modern ichthy-
ologists, however, it is now employed to designate the Prussian Carp.

This variety is far better known than the Crucian, being not uncommon in some parts
of the Thames, and abundant in the ponds and rivers of several of our English counties. I

PRUSSIAN CARP. 21

believe that the Prussian Carp is common in the Norfolk Broads, where it grows to a good
size : it is said to have reached the weight of two pounds. The spawning time is about the
end of April or early in May. It is said to be rather a shy biter, and to afford but little
sport to the angler. Like the Crucian it is very tenacious of life, and has been known to
live out of water for the space of thirty hours. The flesh is said to be white and agreeable,
but I have no personal acquaintance with it in this respect. The head is obtuse, body rather
short and thick, the tail forked. In a t)-pical specimen of the C. carassius van gibclio, a difference
from the Crucian will be seen in the less depth of the body, which is more Carp-like than
Bream-like, a blunter head, less elevated back, and the caudal fin more decidedly forked ;
but even in the Prussian Carp varieties seem to exist.

Hybrids are said to be common between the ordinary Carp {Cypj^inits carpio) and the
Crucian wherever the two fish are kept in a domesticated or semi-domesticated state. Speci-
mens may be seen in the British Museum. One of these hybrids is thus described by Giinther
— "It resembles the Carp in having four barbels, which, however, are much less developed
and smaller. The pharyngeal teeth generally in two series (4. i — i. 4), sometimes the inner
tooth is absent, or another tooth indicates the third series of the Carp. The serrated ray of
the dorsal and anal fins varies in strength, being sometimes very feeble."

f -Z LIBRARY

harva;-,'d University

CAMSRiDGt. MA USA

H
!SI

Pn the ^von.

Order IV.
PHVSOSTOMI.

Family
CYPRINIDM.

^iSrOLDEN t:>ARP.

fCarassius atiratiis.J

Cyprinus auralus,

Goldfish,

Cyprinus telescopus,

" quadrilobus.

Linn. Syst. Nat., i. p. 527; Yarrell, i. 358; Gunther's Cat.

vii. p. 32.
Pennant, Brit. ZooL, iii. p. 327.

LAcfipi)DE, V. pi. 18, figs. 2 & 3.

THE Golden Carp, or Goldfish, with the silver and bronze coloured specimens, has its original
home in China and Japan. It is subject to as much variation as its western representative,
the Crucian Carp, or Carassiiis z'lilgaris, of which, according to Giinther and other ichth)'ologists,
it is merely a domestic variety; "although numerous examples of the Crucian and Goldfish
are exactly alike in the shape of the body, the western species appears to have the body
more elevated than the eastern, which also has less longitudinal series of scales above the
lateral line." — (Giinther.) The Goldfish has been domesticated in China for ages, where, as
Couch observes, it has contributed to the amusement of the higher classes by its lively actions
in luxurious captivity; perhaps no other fish is more subject to variation both in shape and
colour, and none more brilliantly beautiful than the vivid golden varieties. The Chinese

24 GOLDEN CARP.

collect the spawn from the rivers and sell it to merchants, who send it to different parts of
the country to be propagated in small ponds, or kept in glass or porcelain vessels in the
houses of the rich.

The date of the introduction of these "sportive" fish into England is uncertain; 1611,
1 69 1, and 1728 are each recorded as the year in which they were brought over; it was not,
perhaps, till the year 1728 that Goldfish became generally known, when they were brought
over in large numbers and presented to Sir Matthew Decker, Lord Mayor of London, who
distributed them to various friends over the country. The Goldfish appears to have been
introduced into Portugal at an early period ; it is now completely naturalized in many of the
waters of that country, and a great number of these fish, so commonly exposed for sale in
the well-known glass globes of the London and other dealers, have been and are now, I
believe, brought into England by trading vessels from Lisbon and other Portuguese towns.
In France the Goldfish is said to have been unknown till the days of Louis XV., whose
mistress, the Marchioness de Pompadour, had received some as a present.

The temperature of the water has a marked effect in influencing the colour of the Gold-
fish ; in ordinary ponds of this country the usual and prevailing colour is bronze ; the golden
colour is induced by a warm temperature of the water. "It is a well-known fact that in
manufacturing districts where there is an inadequate supply of cold water for the condensation
of the steam employed in the engines, recourse is had to what are called engine-dams or
ponds, into which the water from the steam-engine is thrown for the purpose of being cooled;
in these dams the average temperature of which is about eighty degrees, it is common to
keep Goldfish ; and it is a notorious fact that they multiply in these situations much more
rapidly than in ponds of lower temperature, exposed to the variations of the climate. Three
pairs of this species were put into one of these dams, where they increased so rapidly, that
at the end of three years their progeny, which were accidentally poisoned by verdigris mixed
with the refuse tallow from the engine, were taken out by wheelbarrows-full. Goldfish are by
no means useless inhabitants of these dams : they consume the refuse grease which would
otherwise impede the cooling of the water by accumulating on its surface." — (Dr. Edward's
Influence of Physical Agents on- Life, Note, p. 467.)

The question as to the influence of temperature In producing changes of colour, or
modifying form, or producing death, is an interesting one. The late Dr. John Davy has
published some observations on the vitality of fishes, and on the degree of temperature fatal
to them, well worth studying. His experiments on the Goldfish are expressed In a short
paragraph, which I will quote. — "One of average size, taken from an aquarium and put Into
water at ninety-six degrees (Fahr.), immediately became restless, swimming about hurriedly,
and making violent leaps, as if attempting to escape. Gradually It became languid, swimming
on Its side, the caudal fin seldom acting. After a few minutes, when the water had fallen
to ninety degrees. It appeared to be motionless: the pectoral fins and the opercula were the
last that ceased to act. Now transferred to water of seventy degrees, it rapidly revived, the
gills first acting. After an interval of about an hour. It was put into water at ninety-three
degrees. This temperature It bore pretty well at first, gradually it became languid, swimming
on Its side. As the water cooled, its languor abated ; and when the temperature had fallen
to eighty-eight degrees it had resumed Its natural position." — {Physiological Researches, p. 301.)
From this experiment It would appear that a temperature of about eighty or eighty-eight
degrees is well suited to the Goldfish, and that at such a temperature it assumes a brilliant
golden, silver, orange, or silver mixed with gold, but that at a temperature of ninety-six
degrees the Goldfish will die; such a high temperature would probably be fatal to all
other kinds of fish. The statements made by travellers that fish are able to live in water so
hot that a man could not bear his hand therein for a single minute must, one would
suppose, be Incorrect. A temperature of one hundred and fifteen degrees was found by Dr.

GOLDEN CARP. 25

Davy to be hardly bearable to his hand, and that of one hundred and twenty degrees not
endurable. It is incredible, therefore, to think that a fish could live in a temperature of one
hundred and eighty-seven degrees, as recorded by Sonnerat; for, as Dr. Davy remarks, such
endurance would imply a different organization from that of fishes generally, when we keep
in mind the simple fact that the serum of their blood is coagulated by a temperature of about
one hundred and sixty degrees. I must refer any reader interested in these points to Davy's
Physiological Researches and to Dr. Edward's work on the Iiifluoice of ilic Physical Agents on
Life, p. 56, 57, Hodgkin's and Fisher's Translation.

The Goldfish presents us with many varieties of form ; sometimes the dorsal fin, which
in a normal specimen occupies a considerable portion of the back, consists of only four or
five rays, or the dorsal may be absent altogether, or the anal fin may be double; the caudal
fin or tail may be three or four-lobed ; and strangest perhaps of all, in some cases the eyes
may be very large and protruding. These, I need hardly remind the reader, are the varieties
of Goldfish now frequently to be seen in an aquarium under the name of Japanese fan-tails,
telescope fish, etc.

Goldfish seldom exceed a length of nine or ten inches.

The specimens figured were supplied by Air. Masefield, of EUerton Hall.

MCZ LIBRARY
HARV-D Ui4IVERSITY
CAf.;3.^!D.~c MA USA

o
o

Pn the Jhames.

Order IV.
PHYSOSTOMI.

Family
CYPRINID^.

)ARBEL.

( Barbus vulgar'ts.J

Barhus,

Cyprinus oblongus,

Cyprinus barbus.

Barbel,

Barbus vulgaris,

Barbus fluviatilis.

AusoN., Id. X. 94. Gesner, Aquat. iv. p. 194. Willugh., Hist. Pise. p. 259.

Artedi, Spec. Pise. p. 4, No. 14.

Lin., Sys. N. i. 527. Donovan, Brit. F. ii. pi. 29.

Pennant, Brit. Zool. iii. 312. Couch, Brit. Fish. iv. p. 16.

Fleming, Brit. An. p. 185. Gunther's Cat. vii. p. 88.

Agass. Cuv. .'=;iekold. Die Siisserwasserfische p. 109.

Characters of the Genus Barbus. — "Scales of small, moderate, or large size. Dorsal fin generally with the (third)
longest simple ray ossified, enlarged and frequently serrated; never, or only e-xceptionall}', with more than nine
branched rays, commencing opposite, or nearly opposite the root of the ventral. Eyes without adipose eyelid.
Anal fin very short, but frequently very high. Mouth arched, without inner folds, inferior or anterior; lips without
horny covering. Barbels short, four, two, or none. Lateral line running in, or nearly in the middle of the side
of the tail. Anal scales not enlarged. Pharyngeal teeth 5.4 or 3.3 or 2—2 or 3.3 or 4.5. Snout but rarely with
tubercles or pore-like grooves. Temperate or tropical parts of the Old World." — Gunther.

rriHE Barbel is mentioned once only, I believe, in classical authors ; in the writings of the

ancient Greeks there is no mention of this fish, and Ausonius of the Latins is the only

author who notices the Barbel, under the appropriate name of Barbus, in allusion to the four

28 BARBEL.

barbules or beards with which the mouth is furnished. Ausonius speaks of the Barbel as
occurrino- in the river Saravus, the modern Sarre, which joins the Moselle a tew miles above
Trien.

"Tuque per obliqui fauces vexate Saravi,
Qua bis tema fremunt scopulosis ostia pilis,
Cum defluxisti famae majoris in amnem
Liberior laxos exerces, Barbe, ratatus;
Tu melior pejore aevo." (Id. x. 90 — qj.)

"And thou, O Barbel, harassed by the narrow passes of the winding Sara\-us after thou hast descended a

river of greater fame (Mosella) more freely dost exercise spacious swimmings."

According to the above authority the Barbel is a more acceptable article of diet when
old — iiiclior pcjorc aroo ; its flesh, however, is not generally held in high esteem, though it has
been for long, and is now, protected by statute law. Amongst the piscatory- restrictions of
Queen Elizabeth's reign it is enacted that anyone taking Barbel less than twelve inches shall
"pay twenty shillings, and give up the fish so wrongfully taken, and the net or engine so
^^Tongfully used." In France the Barbel is more esteemed as food than amongst ourselves;
at Tours and other inland places, situated on rivers, as Dr. Badham remarks, ' Lcs trois
Barbcaux'' is a well-known sign, and an abundant supply is always ready for noces et festins
in water-cages under the bridge.

The Barbel is common in the Danube, the Rhine, and in other rivers in the warm
latitudes of Europe, where it grows to a large size, and occasionally attains a weight, it
is said, of fort)- or even fift}- pounds ; in this countr}- a Barbel of fifteen pounds would be
considered a very large fish. The food of the Barbel is partly of an animal and partly of
a vegetable nature; its principal food, during those months when it is active, consists of the
larvae of various insects, worms and small fish. It generally keeps near the bottom of the
river, and probably uses its four mouth-feelers or barbules as instruments of touch, to enable
the fish to detect the nature of its food ; these feelers are abundantly supplied with nerves,
as indeed is the case in other fish similarly provided.

Anglers generally use ground bait to attract the Barbel to the spots w'here they intend
to fish some hours previously. I have no experience of Barbel -fishing, but those who have
been so fortunate speak of this sport, as pursued in a punt on the Thames, as most
amusing. Mr. F. Buckland recommends it especially to ladies. Mr. ]\Ianley, in his Notes on
Fish and Fishing, is free to confess that he enjoys a good day's Icgcr fishing for Barbel to
any other day's fishing '"within reach of ordinar}-, or even extraordinan,- mortals." The
Barbel I believe is exclusively, in this countn,- at least, a river fish, but it is not found in
all rivers. The Thames supplies the most abundant and largest fish ; in the neighbourhood
of Walton and Weybridge, two hundred and eight}' pounds' weight of Barbel are said to
have been taken by a single rod in one day. The Trent also aftbrds excellent fish. It
does not, I believe, occur in the Severn.

The Barbel is a strong and cunning fish, "so lust}" and cunning" — to quote from the
Complete Angler — "as to endanger the breaking of the angler's line, by running his head
forcibly towards any covert, or hole, or bank, and then striking at the line to break it off
with his tail." I do not know whether this has been verified by modem anglers, but Mr.
F. Buckland writes, "When a Barbel is hooked, he always endeavours to strike at the line
with his tail to break it." Dame Juliana Bemers says of the Barbel, in her own quaint
language, "It is an evil fysshe to take, for he is so strongly enarmyd in the mouth, that
there may no weake harnesse holde him."

The Barbel spawns in May and June. Yarrell states that the ova, amounting to seven
or eight thousand in a full-sized female, are deposited on the gravel and covered by the

BARBEL. 29

parent fishes, and that they are vivified in a warm season between the ninth and fifteenth
days. Couch says the spawn is discharged in a string, and entwined round some fixed object,
as a stone or weed. Gasner says that the Barbel opposite his house, situated near the
Danube, spawn at the beginning of August. Siebold mentions May and June as the months.
The roe is supposed to be poisonous. Gesner quotes several old writers who affirm that
from experiments made on themselves the roe has proved injurious as food ; this appears to
be alluded to in the Book of St. Albans, where it is said, "The Barbyll is a swete fysshe,
bat it is a quasi meete and a perilous for mannys body. For comynly he yeyjth an intro-
duxion to ye Febres. And yf he be eten rawe, he maye be cause of mannys death ; whyche
hath oft been seen." Sir John Hawkins, in a note of his edition of the Complete Angler,
says that even the flesh of the Barbel is deleterious, for a servant of his, who had eaten
part of the fish, but not the roe, "was seized with such a violent purging and vomiting as
had like to have cost him his life." On the other hand, Bloch asserts that both himself
and some members of his family ate of a considerable portion of Barbel roe without anv
disagreeable results. It is possible that in some cases the effect may be due to idiosyncrasy,
or a peculiar disposition of the individual who partook of the roe, but at the same time it
is not unlikely that Barbel roe may be, in itself, injurious when eaten. In the time of Sir
John Hawkins, Barbel roe used to be taken by country people medicinally, as an emetic and
a cathartic. Siebold {Die Siisseii.vasscrfisckc, p. no) on this point writes: "It is strange that
although people have of old been warned against eating the spawn of the Barbel, and that
frequent e.xperiences still often occur, resulting in vomiting and diarrhoea, \\\. is strange) that
no one has set himself the task of investigating scientifically the spawn of this common fish
with a view to test its poisonous effects." Siebold's work, quoted here, bears date 1863. I
know not whether since this time any attempts have been made to investigate this matter.

The Barbel, says Yarrell, in the Coat of Bar, forms one of the quarterings of the arms
of Margaret of Anjou, queen of Henr\- the Sixth. These arms are beautifully painted in
glass in the windows of a curious old manor-house at Ockwell, in Berkshire, on the banks
of the Thames ; thus a sort of historic interest, as Badham obser\'es, attaches to this fish.

The flesh of the Barbel is generally pronounced to be poor and insipid; the only way
to make these fish eatable, according to Mr. Manley, is to salt and dry them, "and even
then," he says, "they are not much better than the bark of a tree would be subjected to
a similar process." But Dr. Badham begs to assure citizen anglers, and others who may be
incredulous, that these fish, simply boiled in salt and water, and eaten cold, with a squeeze
of lemon-juice, will be found by no means despicable fare; he particularly commends "the
head and its appurtenances."

The form of the Barbel is rather long, and narrow at the back ; the length of the head,
which is decidedly pig-like in form, is one fourth of the whole, not including the tail ; snout
much produced, lips thick ; there are no mouth-teeth, but there are the usual throat-teeth
of this family; eyes small; a pair of barbs above the upper lip, and one at each corner
of the mouth; colour of the back greenish brown or bluish, sides yellowish, white below;
tail deeply forked.

The fin-ray formula is as follows: —

Dorsal II.
Pectoral 16.
Ventral 0 — 10.
Anal 8.

The specimen figured was procured from the Thames near Oxford; I am indebted to
Mr. William Hine, of the Anatomical Department, Museum, Oxford, for a fine specimen for
examination.

GUDGEON.

Order IV.
PHYSOSTOMT.

Family
CrPRIXIDJS.

^-SUDGEON.

(Gobio fluviatilis.)

Gobi'o,

Gohius fluviatilis,

Cyprinus gobio,

Gudgeon,

Gobio fluviatilis.

AusON., Id. X. 134; Cuv. R. An.
Gesner, de Aquatil., p. 399.
Linn., Syst. Nat. i. p. 526; Donovan, iii. pi. 71.
Pennant, Brit. Zool., iii. 310; Couch, Brit. Fish., iv. 20, pi. 182.
WiLLUGHBY, p. 264; Yarrell, Brit. Fish., i. p. 371; Siebold,
Siisserwasserf. p. 112; Gdnther's Cat. vii. p. 172.

Characters of the Genus Gobio. — "Scales of moderate size; lateral line present. Dorsal fin short, without spine,
opposite to the ventrals. Anal fin short. Mouth inferior; mandible not projecting beyond the upper jaw when the
mouth is open; both jaws with simple lips; a small but very distinct barbel at the angle of the mouth, quite at the
extremity of the ma.xillary. Gill-rakers very short; pseudo-branchia;. Pharyngeal teeth 5.3 or 2 — 2 or 3.5, hooked
at the end. Europe." — Gunther.

IT is not certain whether the Gudgeon is distinctly mentioned by the ancient Greeks, though
it was doubtless known to them. It is probable that under the name of Kw/Sw? (whence
the Latin gobios is derived,) Aristotle occasionally alludes to the Gudgeon. Ausonius is
sufficiently descriptive, and clearly speaks of that most excellent little fish In the following
lines : —

"Tu quoque flumineas inter memoranda cohortes
Gobio, non major geminis sine poUice palmis
Prspinguis, teres, ovipari congestior alvo
Propexique jubas imitatus Gobio Barbi." (Id. x. 131 — 134.)

"Thou too, O Gudgeon, worthy of being mentioned among the shoals of the river, not greater than the two palms
of the hands without the thumb; very fat, round and plumper still when thy belly is full of eggs; Gudgeon imitating
the hairs of the pendent-bearded Barbel."

I suspect also that the author of the Halieuticon is referring to the Gudgeon In the line —

"Lubricus et spina nocuus non Gobius ulla."
"The slippery Gobio harmful with no spine."

The Gudgeon is found in such rivers and streams of this country as flow with moderate
velocit}^ and have a sandy or gravelly bottom. These fish will also thrive in ponds through
which fresh water runs ; they are gregarious in their nature, and readily taken with a worm,
affording capital sport in their small way, to those anglers who care more for numbers than
size, and who can appreciate a most excellent food. Their spawning time Is In May and
June; the ova are very small, and are deposited among stones in shallow water. Yarrell
states that the fry are about an inch long by the beginning of August. According to
Thompson the Gudgeon Is found in many of the waters of Ireland. It is not mentioned as
occurring in Scotland. Is this merely negative evidence? Is not the Gudgeon an inhabitant
of any of the waters of Scotland ? Couch savs it is known only of late In Cornwall and the
western portion of Devonshire.

GUDGEON. 31

In point of flavour the Gudgeon approaches that of the Smelt or Sparling, and in my
opinion is one of the best of fresh-water fish we possess. It is a pity, from a gastronomic
point of view, that the Gudgeon does not exceed the length of six or seven inches, which is
the size denoted by the "two palms of the hand without the thumb" of Ausonius.

The following is Giinther's description of the Gudgeon: — "The height of the body is
one fifth or nearly one fifth of the total length (without caudal) ; tail compressed ; snout
obtuse, with the upper profile convex ; eye a little behind the middle of the length of the
head (in adult specimens). Barbels not extending beyond the centre of the eye (in adult
examples), frequently shorter. A series of round blackish spots along the lateral line, some-
times confluent posteriorly. Dorsal and caudal fins with transverse series of black dots."

The fin rays are

Dorsal 9 — 10.
Pectoral 15.
Ventral 8.
Anal 8.

The English word Gudgeon comes directly from the French goii/oii, that from the Latin
gobio, which must be referred to the Greek Kw^lo^. The expression "to gudgeon a man,"
i.e. to deceive him, may have originated from the ease with which a Gudgeon is taken by a
bait, as Gay sings — -

"What gudgeons are we men.
Every woman's easy prey!
Though we've felt the hook, again
We bite and they betray!"

Or it may have reference to the ease with which so delicate a morsel as a Gudgeon is
swallowed. According to the French expression given by Rouchi {Pa/o/s of the Hainaitlt,
Wedgwood's Etxmolog. Diet.), Cha passe cotne un gotivion, meaning "that which is easily
swallowed;" so also Faire avaler dcs gouvions, "to make one believe a lie," literally "to make
Gudgeons be swallowed." On this point Latham, in his Large Dictionary, (s.v. gudgeon) observes:
"Of Gudgeons having been swallowed with particular ease there is no very good evidence;
though there is a good deal in favour of the Loach having been so treated. The Loach is
said, in most notices, to have been not unfrequently tossed off in toasts, or swallowed in a
glass of wine, by the gallants of the Elizabethan period. It is suggested, then, that the
Gudgeon when suggestive of credulity is the Loach, How much the two fishes have in
common is well known. Both keep on the ground ; both are marked or mottled ; both have
a beard or wattles."

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
CAMBRIDGE. MA USA

<
o
Pi

.■,vi,'ifi-;

pN THE flODDER.

Order IV.
PHYSOSTOMI.

Family
CYPRINIDJE.

SOACH.

[LcuciscKS riifilus.)

Rulihis shv Ruhellus fluviatih's, Gesnek, de Aquat., p. 820.

Cyprinus iridc pinnis ventralibus ac ant plenimquc rukn/ibus, Artedi, Spec. Pise. p. 10, No. 18.

Cyprinus ruttlus, Linn., Sys. N. i. p. 529.

T/:c Roach, Pennant, Brit. Zool. iii. p. 319; Couch, Brit. Fish.

iv. 47, pi. 191; Yarrell, i. p. 399.
Lauiscus rulilus, Fleming, Brit. An. p. 188; Siebold, Siisserwasserf.

p. 183; GtJNTHER, Cat. vii. p. 212.

Charac/a-s of the Genus Leuciscus.— "Body covered with imbricate scales; lateral line generally complete, running
in, or only a little below, the median line of the tail. Dorsal fin short, without stiff ray, commencing opposite, rarely
behind the ventrals. Anal fin rather short or moderately developed, generally with from nine to eleven rays, rarely
with eight (in small species only), and still more rarely with fourteen rays. Mouth with structural peculiarities; lower
jaw not trenchant; barbels none. Pseudo-branchia;. Pharyngeal teeth conical or compressed in a single or double
series. Intestinal tract short, with only a few convolutions. Paloe- and Nearctic regions."— GiJNTHER.

rriHP: Roach is generally distributed throughout England, Wales, and Scotland. In Ireland,
J- however, it is said not to occur, the Rudd {Lciulsciis erythrophthalmus), or Red-Eye, which
is exceedingly common in the north of Ireland, being mistaken for the true Roach. Accordnig
to Couch, the Roach is not known in Cornwall, and in Devonshire only in the lake called
Slapton-Ley. Its European geographical distribution is north of the Alps.

34 ROACH.

Roach are gregarious, and swim generally in shoals ; they spawn at the end of May and
the beginning of June, and at this season the scales are peculiarly rough to the touch ; the
spawn is deposited among weeds or upon submerged bodies in immense quantities. In the
Aqualate Mere belonging to Sir Thomas Boughey, Bart., Staffordshire, this spawning process
is utilized in the capture of eels ; certain wattle-work constructions are set up in different
parts of the mere, to which the Roach resort, and upon which they fix their spawn ; here
large quantities of eels congregate to feed on the Roach or spawn, and are taken in wicker
traps. The Roach is not in much request as an article of diet, the flesh being generally
soft and woolly ; nevertheless large specimens in September and October are not to be
despised when nicely fried.

"The art of Roach fishing," says Mr. Manley, "rightly holds a high place in the angler's
estimation. Anyone can catch the half-bred and half-starved Roach of a muddy and weedy
pond, and I dare say Dame Berners spoke rightly of the uneducated fish of her day when
she said 'the Roche is an easy fysshe to take.' Probably, too, Walton was justified in
speaking of the Roach of his day as being 'accounted the ivater-shccp for his simplicity or
foolishness.' But a river Roach, say of the Thames, or Colne, or Trent, of our era is a
very different fish, and he is not to be had by any tyro. He has, too, his times and
seasons, his offs and ons, and the general capriciousness of the scaly tribes, being subject
to all kinds of atmospheric and terrestrial influences, which affect both the time and manner
of his taking a bait. Moreover, Roach of a much-fished river, like the Thames, are highly
educated, and are pretty wide awake to the fisherman's proceedings — the fixing of the punt,
the plumbing the depth, and the scattering of the ground-bait. Of course the latter attracts
them, and they come to see 'what's up,' and if inclined to feed they will constantly take
the baited hook for an innocent morsel of favourite food. But to make a good basket of
Roach, even when they are 'on,' requires very careful attention to a number of details." —
{Notes on Fish and Fishing, p. 300.)

The usual length of a Roach is about eight or ten inches, but it is said sometimes to
attain fourteen inches ; a Roach of one pound in weight would be considered a good fish ;
but instances are on record of fish having been taken two, three, and even five pounds
weight. This last fish is mentioned by Pennant, and its weight may fairly be questioned.

The food of the Roach, like other members of the family, is partly of a vegetable and
partly of an animal nature. The throat-teeth are large and well developed, arranged generally
in a single series ; they form an important character in distinguishing this fish from its
relative the Rudd ; in this latter fish the teeth are minutely but distinctly serrated, which
is not the case in the Roach.

The Azurine or Blue-Roach, the Lcitciscns avntlcus of Yarrell, is probably only a variety of
the Rudd. Hybrids between the Roach and the Rudd are supposed to occur, and I think
there is no doubt from an examination of several specimens, that the so called Pomeranian
Bream is merely a cross between the Roach and the Common Bream, as first stated by
Professor Von Siebold.

The following is Dr. Giinther's description of the Roach: — -"Body generally somewhat elevated,
its depth being about one third of the total length (without caudal). Mouth terminal, the
upper jaw but slightly projecting beyond the lower. There are three longitudinal series of
scales between the lateral line and ventral fin. Origin of the dorsal fin above, but not in
advance of the root of the ventral. Body silver}^ the lower fins generally with a red tinge in
adult examples. Pharyngeal teeth 6, or 5 — 5, (or 6)." The position of the dorsal fin with
regard to that of the ventral will at once distinguish the Roach from the Rudd ; in the former
the origin of the dorsal is only slightly behind that of the ventral; in the latter it is conspicu-
ously so.

The definition of our English word Roach is far from clear. The Anglo-Saxon is rcohchc,

ROACH. 35

which also signifies "a thornback" or "skate-fish;" this seams to bring one to the root reoh,
"rough." Possibly reference may be implied to the roughness of the fish during the season of
spawning. The expression "as sound as a Roach," is supposed by some to have been originally
"sound as a rock." Ray has the proverb "as sound as a Trout;" "but sometimes people will
express it as sound as a Roach; which is by no means a firm fish, but rather otherwise; and
on that account Mr. Thomas surmises it should rather be as sound as a roc/ie, or rock ; and it
is certain, the Abbey of de Rufe, in Yorkshire was called Roche Abbey, implying that roche
was formerly the pronunciation of j^ock here, in some places at least." (Latham's Diet, s.v.)
That the proverb however originally referred to a fish, and not to a rock, seems probable
from Ray's expression "sound as a Trout," as well as from the French saying "■ ctre frais
commc un gardou,'" "to be fresh as a gardo)i," (Roach or Ide) ; which Littre (s.v., gardon)
thus explains, "to have an air of freshness and health, an expression derived from the brilliancy
of the scales of this fish." Littre gives another proverb, '■'■ Fraiche commc un gardon, droite
commc unc pcrclic,'" "fresh as a Roach, right as a Perch."

The scientific name of Icuciscus is from the Greek Icncos, "white," a term which we generally
employ to denote the bright and silvery Roach, Dace, &c.

The fin formula of the Roach is

' Dorsal 12.

Pectoral 17.
Ventral 9.
Anal 13.

The specimen figured was supplied by E. H. Reynard, Esq., of Sunderlandwick.

MCZ U'iHf:^^Y
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
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X
o

On the J-ea.

Order IV.
PHVSOSTOMl.

Family
CYPRINIDM.

Capita,

Capita sen dphalus fluviatilis,

Mugil fluviatilis.

Chub ar Chevin,

Cyprinus ohlongus macrolepidotus,
Cyprinus aphalus,
C. Jeses,

Lcuciscus dphalus,
Squalius cephalus.

(^HUB.
fLeuctsciis ccphaliis.)

AusoN, Id. X. 85.

Gesner, de Aquatil, ]). 182.

WiLLUGHBY, p. 261.

WiLLUGHBY, p. 255; Pennant, Brit. Zool., iii. p. 322; Yarrell, 1.

p. 419; Couch, Fish. Brit. Isles, iv. p. 44.
Artedi, Sp. p, 7, No. 10.
Linn., Syst. i. p. 527.
Donovan, Brit. Fish. v. pi. 115.

Fleming, Brit. An. p. 187; GUnther, Cat. vii. p. 220.
SiEiioLD, Siisserwasserfische, p. 200.

N three short lines Ausonius, in his Idyl on the Moselle, appears to speak of the fish now
under our consideration, namely, the Chub —

"Squameus herbosas Capito interlucet arenas,
Viscere praetenero fartim congestus aristis.
Nee duraturus post bina trihoria mensis." (Id. .\. 85-7.)

"Among the weedy sands the scaly Chub glitters, completely stuffed in its very soft flesh with awn-like bones,
a fish which will not keep for the table beyond six hours."

38 CHUB.

The large broad head of this fish implied in the Latin word Capita, the large scales denoted
by the term squaincus, the woolly and exceedingly bony nature of the flesh as mentioned in
the second line, and the liability to spoil by being kept, all truthfully point to the Chub as
the fish of which Ausonius speaks.

The Chub is common in the deep rivers of this country, as in the Thames, the Wye,
and many other streams. It prefers, as Couch remarks, "those streams in which the water
flows with some considerable rapidity, along a clean bottom of sand or gravel ; and so needful
to its well-being is a supply of what is afforded by a current, that it is not easy to keep
it alive in a tank, or within the narrow limits of a pond." This is quite true as a general
rule, though I have known Chub to do fairly well in a strip of water through which there
was no constant fresh-water current flowing; indeed the specimen figured was taken from
such a piece of water described. It is found also in some of our canals, where the water
is pretty clear and wholesome. The Chub is found in various parts of Europe, and in Asia
Minor. According to Siebold it is pretty common in almost all the lakes, rivers, and streams
of Middle Europe, attaining to a good size and weight of eight pounds or more, but on
account of the flesh abounding in little bones It is nowhere in much repute. In the north
of Scotland it is said not to occur, nor in the west of England. However, it is probable
that the Chub may be artificially increased by its introduction into rivers, where it is not at
present found, but its poor reputation as an article of diet is not likely to induce pisci-
culturists to take much interest in it.

The spawning time is at the end of April and the beginning of May ; according to
Siebold, in the months of May and June, during which time the males are covered with
fine granules breaking out over the body.

I have but little experience in angling for Chub, though I have occasionally caught
them with a worm or an artificial fly. From an angler's point of view, according to Mr. Manley,
"the Chub, as a fish for sport, is by no means to be despised, though he is not so strong,
plucky, and determined as some others when hooked." The same writer says there is this
peculiarity about the Chub, that no other fish can be captured in such a variety of methods
and with such a variety of baits ; he also recommends that the fisherman, whatever fly he
uses, should attach to the bend of the hook a narrow strip of white kid, about half or three
quarters of an inch long, as adding some attraction to the fly. The Chub is a wary and
shy fish, choosing deep quiet holes under bushes, where it is screened from view. Its natural
food is the larvae of various insects, worms, etc., though from the presence of strong and
decided throat-teeth there can be no doubt that the Chub is partly also a vegetable feeder,
like the Cyprinida generally.

As to the quality of the flesh as food, the Chub is almost universally esteemed poor; I
have tried it in various ways, and I must say that, in my opinion, it is not worth cooking.
On one occasion I tried Izaak Walton's receipt, which is as follows: — ^" First scale him and
then wash him clean, and then take out his guts, and to that end make the hole as little,
and near to his gills as you may conveniently, and especially make clean his throat from
the grass and weeds that are usuall}- in it; for if that be not \Qxy clean, it will make him
to taste very sour. Having so done, put some sweet herbs into his belly ; and then tie him
with two or three splinters to a spit, and roast him, basted often with vinegar, or rather
verjuice and butter, with good store of salt mixed with it." I must say that I did not find
the Chub — and he was a fine specimen — thus dressed "a much better dish of meat" than
anglers imagine ; and I never again cared to repeat the process. The French, it is said,
call the Chub tin vilain, and condemn him altogether. Mr. Francis, speaking of the Dace
and Roach, recommends them to be pickled or potted, or plainly broiled, salted and peppered,
a slice of butter being laid on them while hot, and says that even Chub can be eaten in
this way. Mr. Manley endorses the statement of Ausonius to some extent when he says, that

CHUB. 39

Chub are to be cleaned as soon as possible after being taken, split open, and rubbed with
salt or lemon, and that if anglers will insist on eating of their spoil, they must, above all,
remember "that a Chub kept for a single night uncleaned is absolutely tmedible.'"

A Chub of three or four pounds weight would be considered a good-sized fish ; Yarrell
states that one of five pounds is the most that he can find recorded; Mr. Cholmondeley
Pennell, who has given a table of comparative weights and lengths of Chub, records, as three
of the biggest fish, the following lengths and weights : —

A Chub weighing slbs. s^oz. measured 21 inches.

6 2^- " 22

7 oJ- " 23

Our English word Chub has clearly been given to the fish to express the broad size of
the head ; it is the Anglo-Saxon eopp, German kopf, the Latin caput, the Greek Ke^aXtj, the
Sanskrit kapdla; but Mr. Manley is quite right in objecting to the term as implying the idea
of a clumsy logger-headed fish, because the Chub's head does not justify such an appellation
in the least ; the head is certainly broad, but not at all out of proportion ; and the Chub, as
Mr. Francis says, "Is a well-shaped, handsome-looking member of the Carp tribe," and I
hope my readers, on referring to the plate, will acknowledge this fish to be so. The Latin
name of Capito is given by Ausonius as the name of the Chub, and other writers have
merely followed his nomenclature as having the claim of priority. In some parts of the
north of England, as about the Eden, the Esk, the Lowther, Eamont, and other rivers, the
Chub is called the Shelly, a term no doubt having reference to the large scales of the Chub.
A very similar word, Schelly, is in the neighbourhood of Ullswater applied to a very different
fish, namely, to the Coregoniis elupeoides, one of the Salmonidee, known at Bala as the Gwyniad,
and at Loch Lomond as the Powan. The term Schelly, as applied to this latter named fish,
may refer to its bright shining scales, or to the ease with which the scales fall off from the
body when handled ; with this we may compare the expression to scale a fish, or the term
shale in geology.

The specific distinctions of the Chub are as follows: — "Body oblong, its depth being one
fourth or rather more than one fourth of the total length (without caudal). Head very broad,
the width of the interorbital space being about two fifths of the length of the head. Mouth
wide, its cleft extending to below the front margin of the orbit ; upper jaw slightly over-
lapping the lower. The hindmost suborbital bone is rather larger than the first, the width of
the third much less than that of the last. Origin of the dorsal fin opposite to the root of the
inner ventral rays. Length of the ventral fin more than one half that of the head. There
are three longitudinal series of scales between the lateral line and ventral fin. Coloration
uniform ; margins of the scales greyish. Pharyngeal teeth hooked, slightly denticulated,
5.2 — 2.5." — (Giinther.)
The fin formula is

Dorsal 11.

Pectoral 16.

Ventral 9 — 10.

Anal II.

The specimen figured was supplied by Mr. Masefield, of EUerton Hall.

MCZ LIBRARY
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- ^

foNT /tBERGLASLYN, f>IoRTH WalES.

Order IV.
PHVSOSTOMI.

Family
CrPRL\lD/E.

»ACE.

fLeuciscus viilgai-is.J

Ltucisci sccunda specks,
Dace, or Dan,

Cyprinus novcm digitorum, &r.,
Cyprinus kuciscus,
Vandoise,
Lcuciscus vulgaris,

Leuciscus laiicas/i kns/'s ( Grainuigj,

Dohiik Roach,

Sqtiallus kuciscus {Hascl, Heisliiig),

Gesner, De Aquatil. p. 26.

WiLLUGHBY, Hist. Pise. p. 260; Pen.mami, Brit. Zool. iii. p. 320;

Couch, Fish. Brit. Isl. iv. p. 54, pi. 194.
Artedi, Spec. Pise. p. 9 No. 16.
LACfip., V. p. 572; Donovan, Brit. Fish. iv. p^ 77.
Bellon, p. 314; Bloch.
Fleming, Brit. An. p. 1.S7; Yarrell, i. p. 404; Gl'.vther's Cat.

vii. p. 226.
Yarrell, i. p. 40C.
Y'arrell, i. p. 397.
Siebold, Siisserwasserfische p. 203.

THE Dace is one of the most elegant-shaped fish which we have; it is of a beautiful
silvery whiteness, and exceedingly quick in its movements, darting like an arrow away
from any person or object that may alarm it. It is common in most of the rivers and
streams of Central Europe. In England the Dace is found in many of our clear waters,
but it is said not to occur in Ireland or Scotland. The Dace is gregarious, like the Roach,

42 DACE.

swimming- generally in shoals ; it feeds on the larvae of various kinds of insects, as well as
on the insects themselves, and on worms; its food is also partly of a vegetable nature. The
spawning time is in the month of June, at which season these fish may often be seen to
congregate on the weedy shallows of rivers, upon which they deposit their ova.

Dace rise freely at the artificial fly, and, as Mr. Pennell says, "make a gallant fight
when hooked." They are in good condition in September and October, and though not
held in great repute in a gastronomic point of view, being rather soft in flesh and full of
small bones, fine specimens out of our clear rivers are not to be despised when nicely fried.
The Thames fishermen catch considerable number of Dace, using a light red worm as a
bait; bottom-fishing is said to be at its best in October, November, and even in December
and January. The Jews have a great liking for Dace, and indeed for white fish generally,
and, as Mr. Manley says, they consume them in large numbers (at least when they can get
them) during their fasts. Very fine Dace are said to be produced in the New River, near
Hornsey, specimens of three-quarters of a pound being by no means uncommon ; according
to Mr. Pennell, the people residing in the neighbourhood are said to prefer them to Trout for
the table. The Dace, from its brilliant appearance, is an excellent bait in trolling for Pike,
especially when the water is discoloured. The usual size to which the Dace attains is about
eight or nine inches, though larger specimens are found.

The length of the specimen before me from point of nose to the bifurcation of the tail

is seven inches and a half; the greatest depth is two inches; the length of the head is one

inch and a half; mouth narrow, the cleft not extending as far as the front margin of the

orbit, upper jaw overlapping the lower; the origin of the dorsal fin is just opposite the

hind part of the root of the ventral ; three or four longitudinal series of scales between the

lateral line and the ventral fin ; upper part of back brownish blue, or blue by angularly

reflected light ; below lateral line silvery white ; irides white or light straw-colour ; pectoral

and ventral fins slightly tinged with red; anal white; caudal brown, deeply forked.

The fin rays are

Dorsal 9.
Pectoral 15.
Ventral 9.

Anal 10.

The word Dace appears to have been formed by what philologists term "phonetic decay"
from the fuller form of dart, a name which, with another synonym of dare, Is applied to the
fish under our consideration. As early as the time of Gesner we learn that this species of
Leuciscus was called the Dard by the Santones and Pictones (the old names for the inhabitants
of the provinces of Salntonge and Poltou), because the fish moves rapidly, like an arrow or
"dart." "Alia Leuclsci species est ea quse hodie a Gallls Vandoise vocatur, a Santonlbus et
PIctonlbus Dard, quod saglttae modo sese vibret." — {De Aquatil. p. 26.) Mr, Manley aptly
quotes Drayton as having in his mind the "darting" Dace when he says —

"Oft swiftly as he swims, his silver belly shows;
But with such nimble flight, that ere ye can disclose
His shape, out of your sight like lightning he is shot."

Slightly altering a line in Keble's Clirhtian Year, we may apply It especially to Dace as

"Living shafts that pierce" the stream.

Vandoise or Vaudolse is at this day one of the B>ench names of the Dace; it reminds one of
the Vendace, or Coreooiins vandesiiis, of Loch Maben in Dumfriesshire, one of the Salmonoids,
but what the derivation of the word may be I know not, and M. Littre In his French
Dictionary gives no explanation.

GRAINING. 43

^RAINING.

T^ACE, like most other kinds of fish, are subject to variety, and ichthyologists now regard
-L-^ the Graining, first mentioned by Pennant, and described as a different species by Yarrell
in the Linnsean Society's Transactions (vol. xvii., pi. i., p. 5), under the name of Lciiciscus
laiicasiriensis, as merely a variety of the Dace. Pennant says, "in the Mersey, near War-
rington, and in the river Alt, which runs by Sephton, Lancashire, into the Mersey near
Formby, a fish called the Graining is taken, which in some respects resembles the Dace, yet
it is a distinct and perhaps new species." — [Tour in Scollaud and Voyage to the Hebrides, pp.
II, 12.) The Earl of Derby, grandfather of the present Earl, supplied Yarrell with numbers
of this fish, which that naturalist considered was entitled to rank as a distinct species.
Mr. Thompson also obtained specimens of the Graining from the river Leam, near Leamington,
and at Guy's Cliff, Warwickshire. The nose of the Graining is said to be more rounded
than in the Dace, the scales rather larger, the radiating lines on the scales of the lateral
line less numerous than those of the Dace ; in colour the upper part of the head and body
is pale drab, tinged with red, and separated from the lighter parts of the body below by a
well-defined line. In the Dace the number of scales forming the lateral line is about fifty-
two, as near as I can count from specimens before me ; in the Graining Yarrell gives the
number as forty-eight. There seems to be no recorded difterence in the form of the throat
teeth in the Dace and Graining. I have been unable to see any specimens of this fish,
which is probably a mere variety of the Dace ; the same perhaps may be said of the Dobule
Roach (Leueiscus dobiila) of Yarrell, which seems to be a young Dace.

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On the Part.

Order IV.
PHFSOSTOMT.

Family
CFPRINIDJE.

D, OR

ED-EYE.

fLeucisctis crvthrophthalmiis.J

Rootatig (das Rothauge), Ral-cye,

i.e. Eryihrophthalmus Gcrmanicus dictus, Willughby, p. 249.

Cyprinus iride, pinnis omnibus caudaque rubris, Artedi, Gen. Pise. p. 3 No. z.

Cyprinus erythrophthalmiis, Lin., Syst. Nat. i. p. 530; Donovan, Brit. Fish. ii. pi. 40.

Rud, Pennant, Brit. Zool. iii. p. 318; Couch, Fish. Brit. Isl. iv. p. 49.
Roud (Norfolk), Finscalc, Shalloiv,

Red-eye, Rudd, Yarrell, i. p. 412.

Leuciscus erythrophthalmus, Fleming, Brit. An. p. 188; Cuvier; Tho.mx'^^on, Xal. Hist. Irel.

iv. 138; Gunther's Cat. vii. p. 231.

Azurine, Yarrell, i. p. 416.

Scardinius erythrophthalmus, .Siebold, Siisserwasserfische p. 180.

rriHE Rudd is not uncommon in some of the rivers and ponds of this country; it is very
-L lii^e a Roach in general appearance, and often mistaken for one. There is one character,
however, which at once reveals the difference between the Rudd and the Roach ; in the

46 RUDD, OR RED-EYE.

Roach, the origin of the dorsal fin is only slightly behind that of the ventral fin, while in
the Rudd it is conspicuously behind it. The Rudd is generally distributed throughout the
level counties of England ; it occurs in the Thames and other waters near London, in
Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Shropshire, and other counties. In the Cam it is called the
Shallow; but perhaps the Norfolk Broads are the waters where the handsomest and largest
Rudd are produced. According to Thompson it is found from north to south of Ireland,
chiefly in lakes and slow rivers ; it is generally called a Roach throughout the island, where
the true Roach does not occur.

The Rudd spawns in April and May, among the weeds of pools ; its food consists of
larvae of insects, worms, small molluscs, and vegetable matter. In quality of flesh it is said
to be preferable to the Roach. Where ponds are crowded these fish never attain to any
size, but in suitable waters, as in the Norfolk Broads, they not unfrequently attain to a
weight of two pounds. Mr. Manley recommends fishermen who want to make the special
acquaintance of Rudd, to betake themselves to Slapton Ley and fly- fish for them on the
sandy shallows in the summer months. "I am almost afraid," he adds, "to say how many
score I have taken there in a few hours with a single-handed fly-rod and common red-palmer
fly, but, remember, with a small piece of white kid glove the size of a gentle flying on the
head of the hook. Erythrophthabinis at Slapton runs up to two pounds, is fairly sportive,
but is such an easy prey to the seductive kid, that fishing for him loses part of its interest."
A Rudd of one or two pounds is a very beautiful fish, with its bright red eyes and fins, and
reddish gold body.

It is often thought that the Rudd is not a distinct species, but a hybrid between the
Bream and the Roach. This seems to have been the common opinion in the time of Izaak
Walton. "There is a kind of bastard small Roach," he says, "that breeds in ponds, with
a very forked tail, and a very small size, which some say is bred by the Bream and right
Roach, and some ponds are stored with these beyond belief; and knowing men that know
their difference call them Ruds; they differ from the true Roach as much as a Herring from
a Pilchard. And these bastard breed of Roach are now scattered in man}^ rivers." The
Rudd, however, fairly claims specific distinction, though hybrids between the Rudd and
the Roach, as well as between the Rudd and the White Bream, have been observed in
Germany and Holland.

The specific characters of the Rudd are thus given by Giinther : — -"Body elevated, its
depth being generally more than one third of the total length (without caudal). Mouth
terminal, narrow, ver)' oblique; jaws even in front. There are three longitudinal series of
scales between the lateral line and ventral fin. Origin of the dorsal conspicuously behind
the root of the ventral. Belly behind the ventrals compressed into an edge, covered by the
scales extending across it. Fins generally red, especially the lower. Pharyngeal teeth
distinctly serrated."

The fin rays are

Dorsal lo — 1 1
Pectoral 15.
Ventral g — 10.
Anal 13—15.

AZURINE. DOBULE. 47

gZURINE.

THE Rudd, like fish generally, is subject to variety, and it would appear that the Azurlne,
or Blue Roach, first described by Yarrell under the name of Leuciscus cccridcus (Lin. Soc.
Trans, vol. xvii. p. i. p. 8), is merely a variety of the Rudd. At the time Yarrell obtained
specimens of the Graining from some of the Knowsley waters through the kindness of the
Earl of Derby, he received also specimens of fish which he called the Azurine or Blue
Roach. Through the kindness of Mr. T. J. Moore, of the Liverpool Museum, I have been
able to examine a great number of these Azurines which came from the Knowsley pools ;
of course, having been for many years in spirits, they have lost their original blueness of
colour. The position of the dorsal fin relative to the ventral, the narrow oblique mouth,
and above all the serrated throat-teeth, which in no respect differ from those of the Rudd,
all point to the conclusion that the Azurine is a variety of the Rudd or Red-eye. As to
colour it is never safe to depend much on any peculiarity; we would do well to remember
the admonition of the Roman Poet — -"nimium ne crede colori." I am informed that these
Azurine fish are not now found in the Knowsley ponds. The specimens in the Liverpool
Museum are all of a small size, few being more than six or seven inches in length.

UoBULE.

THE Dobule Roach, a single specimen of which Yarrell took with the mouth of a White-
bait net in the Thames below Woolwich, and which is regarded by Giinther as a small
Dace, is thus in its principal characteristics described by Yarrell: — "Body slender in pro-
portion to its length; nose rather rounded, upper jaw longest; ventral fins arise just in
advance of the line of the origin of the first ray of the dorsal fin ; tail considerably forked ;
scales of moderate size, fifty forming the lateral line; the colour of the top of the head,
nape, and back dusky blue, becoming brighter on the sides, and passing into silvery white
on the belly; dorsal and caudal fins dusky brown; pectoral, ventral, and anal fins pale
orange red; irides orange; cheeks and operculum silvery white."

The Lciiciscus dobula of Agassiz, Cuvier and Valenciennes, is given by Giinther as a
synonym of the Leucucus cephalus, or Chub.

MCZ LIBRARY
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Pn the Jhames.

Order IV.
PHVSOSTOMt.

Family
CYPRINID^.

4flENCH.

(Tinea vulgaris.J

Tinea,

Cyprinus viucosus lotus 7iigrescais,

Cvpriinis tinea,

Tiiick,

Tinea vulgaris.

AusoN., Id. X. 125; Gesner, De Aquatil. p. 984; Willughby,

Hist. Pise. p. 251.
Artedi, Spec. Pise. p. 5 No 7.

I.iN., Syst. Nat. i. p. 526; Donovan, Brit. Fish. v. pi. 113.
Pennant, Brit. Zool. iii. p. 314; Couch, Fish. Brit. Isl. iv. p. 22.
Cuv., Rd-gne Anim.; Yarrell, i. p. 375; Siebold's Siisserwasserf.

p. 106; Guxther's Cat. vii. p. 264.

Charaeters of the Genus TiNCA. — "Scales small, deeply imbedded in the thick skin; lateral line complete. Dorsal
fin short, without spine, its origin being opposite the ventral fin; anal short; caudal sub-truncated. Mouth anterior;
laws with the lips moderately developed; a barbel at the angle of the mouth. Gill-rakers short, lanceolate; pseudo-
branchice rudimentary. Pharyngeal teeth 4 or 5 — 5, cuneiform, slightly hooked at the end. Europe." — Gijnther.

THIS handsome and valuable fish is mentioned once only in cla.ssical authors, namely, by
Ausonius, in his Idyl on the Moselle. Ausonius appears to have shared what was
probably the popular opinion of his day, which held the Tench in poor estimation as an

so TENCH.

article of diet ; he mentions this fish in company with White-fish and Shad in the lines — -

"Quis non et virides vulg-i solatia Tineas
Norit, et alburnos prasdam puerilibus hamis,
Stridentesque focis obsonia plebis Alausas?" ^Id. x. 125 — 127.)

"Who is not acquainted with the green Tench, the solace of the common people, and the Bleak, the spoil captured
by boys' fish-hooks, and the Shad which hiss in the fire-pans, plebeian fish-fare?"

Tench thrive best in good-sized ponds, where there is plenty of water weeds of various
kinds, as pond-weed, Potaniogetoii, Myriophylhim, &c. ; the ponds must not be overstocked,
otherwise the fish will not grow to any size, but keep small and thin. Tench are also found
in some of our rivers ; the Thames, in certain localities where the water is sluggish, being
fairly well supplied with them. Deep clay-pits and broad shallow waters on muddy bottoms
are productive. Yarrell states that some very extensive tracts of water a few miles north of
Yarmouth, not far inland from a point called Winterton Ness, abound with Tench, which,
when removed to stews, feed and thrive on a mixture of greaves and meal till fit for the
table, and that the flesh is nutritious and of good flavour. As to the quality of the food
opinions vary; some people regard the Tench as excellent, others will not touch it; for my
own part, I think a well fed Tench of about two pounds in weight one of the best fresh-
water fishes that we possess, and that it does not in the least require rich and savoury sauces
to make it palatable.

The Tench spawns in June; the saying that this happens when "wheat is in flower" is
as old as the time of Willughby, who writes "parit vere et restate cum triticum floret." The
female fish when about to deposit her spawn is attended by two or three males, who follow
her about ; at this time of the year they are very easily taken in a net. The eggs are small,
and are, like those of the Carp, deposited on the weeds. The young fish grows rapidly.
Couch states that in twelve months it may weigh from half a pound to a pound, and that
an instance is known where a Tench, placed in a pond, in six years and a half attained to
the weight of four pounds and a half, which would be considered in this country a fish of
large size, though they have been taken of five or six pounds weight. The food of the
Tench consists of worms and insect larvas, but it also feeds extensively on vegetable matter.
During the winter months it lies buried more or less deeply in the mud, and is dormant,
like the Carp. From an examination of the stomachs of several Tench and Carp taken out
of the mud in mid-winter, which, together with the whole intestinal tract, were quite empty,
it appears that during this time these fish do not take food. It is well known that Tench
are eminently tenacious of life, and are able to breathe with a very small supply of oxygen.

Izaak Walton calls the Tench the physician 0/ Jishes, especially for the Pike, which "being
either sick or hurt is cured by the touch of the Tench;" he says that "the tyrant Pike will
not be a wolf to his physician, but forbears to devour him though he be never so hungry."
This is an old conceit, and is mentioned by Willughby and other authors ; some modern
writers appear to think there is some truth in the belief I think we may safely dismiss the
whole story as a myth ; the Pike will certainly take a Tench just as well as he will another
fish, when he is in the humour, and I have caught Pike occasionally when trolling with a
small Tench as a bait; Mr. Masefield, of Ellerton, who has perhaps as much experience as
any man living, tells me that Pike will eat a Tench as soon as any other fish, and that
he has frequently taken Pike with this bait.

The male of the Tench is readily recognised from the female by the large cup-shaped
ventral fins.

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Q
O

The fin-ray formula is

GOLDEX TENCH.

Dorsal lo — i i.
Pectoral 17.
Ventral 10.
Anal g.

The scales of the Tench are very small, and the whole body is abundantly supplied with
mucus.

^OLDEN JeNCH.

rriHE Golden Tench is an extremely handsome fish ; it is merely a variety of the Tinea
-•- vulgaris. It is said by Mr. F. Buckland to have been introduced in 1867, by Sir Stephen
Lakeman, into this country ; but we are not informed where from. In a letter I received
last May (1878) from Mr. Higford Burr, of Aldermaston Park, Reading, that gentleman
informs me that Mr. Buckland gave him two Gold Tench in September, 1862, and that the.se
fortunately proved to be male and female. These two fish were placed in a pond by them-
selves and have bred. "I have now," says Mr. Burr (May 8th., 1878), "a great number;
what we catch with rod and line in the summer I place in a small pond until cool weather
sets in, when I am happ}- to distribute them to any gentleman who may apply for them."
I do not know in what part of Germany or Austria this golden variety is found. Siebold,
writing in 1863, says, — "This magnificent, black-spotted, orange-yellow or red variety of
the Tench, which is known by the name of Gold Tench {GoId-scJilcihc), and which I have
met with as a cultivated and an ornamental fish in Upper Silesia, has never yet been seen
by me in the fish market here (Munich), nor was it noticed by Giinther in the Neckar
district ; according to Heckel it occurs in the still waters of Salzach, which, however, I
must doubt." — {Die Siisseiisoasserfisclie von Mitteleuropa, p. 107.)

The specimen figured, which weighed one pound, was given to me by Mr. Masefield, who
has set apart one of the ponds at EUerton Hall for the breeding of these fish.

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P.YDAL )VaTER.

Order IV.
PHYSOSTOMI.

Fdiiiilv

CVPRINIDM.

COMMON pREAM

Cyprinus latus sive Brama,

Cyprinus pinnis omnibus nignsctn/ibus.

Bream,

Bream, or Carp-Bream,

Cyprinus brama,

Ahramis brayna,

Abramis Brama, Brachsen, Bhy,

fAbrainis brama.J

Gesner, De Aquatil. p. 316.

Artedi, Spec. Pise. p. + No. 2.

WiLLUGHBY, Hist. Pisc. p. 2+8; Pennant, Brit. Zool. iii. p.

Couch, Fish. Brit. Isl. iv. p. 36.
Yarrell, i. p. 3S2.

Lin., Syst. Nat. i. p. 531; Donovan, Brit. Fisli. iv. pi. 93.
Fleming, Brit. An. p. 187; Gunther's Cat. vii. p. 300.
Siebold's Siisserwasserf. p. 121.

3'7:

Characters of the Genus Abramis. — "Body much compressed, elevated or oblong; scales of moderate size; dorsal
fin short, without spine, opposite to the space between ventrals and anals; anal fin long, many- rayed. Lower jaw
generally shorter, and rarely longer than the upper; both jaws with simple lips, the lower labial fold being interrupted
at the symphysis of the mandible ; upper jaw protractile. Gill-rakers rather short ; pseudobranchia;. Pharyngeal teeth
in one or two series, with a notch near the extremity. Belly behind the ventrals cempressed into an edge, the scales
not extending across it. Europe, north of the Alps, and adjoining parts of Asia; North America." — GtJNTHER.

ABRAMIS is the name of a fish mentioned by Oppian and Athenaeus; the former speaks
of these fish swimming in soals, and frequenting the rocks and shores of the sea,
together with other marine species ; and therefore the Bream, which is exclusively a fresh-

54 COMMON BREAM.

water fish, cannot be intended (Haliciit. 1. 244). Athenseus enumerates the Abrainis among
several other fishes found in the Nile. The Abramis of the Greeks has been referred to
some species of Bream, therefore, without sufficient reason.

There are two undoubted British species of Bream, namely the Common or Carp-Bream
{Abramis bramd), and the ^\^hite Bream, or Breamflat [Abramis blicca) ; the so-called Pome-
ranian Bream, the Cypriniis Bugge7ihagii of Bloch, being almost certainly a hybrid between
the Common Bream and the Roach.' The two first-named species, when young, are difficult
to distinguish, for both are nearly white in colour; but older specimens of the Common or
larger Bream become yellowish or yellowish brown, and are then readily to be distinguished
from the silvery white Breamflat. An examination of the throat-teeth, however, will clear up
any doubts as to the species, because those of the Common Bream are arranged in a single
series of five on each bone, while the other species has a double row or series of five teeth
in one and two in the other.

Bream are common in many of the lakes, ponds, rivers, and canals of this countr}-.
They thrive best in large pieces of water, and have been known to attain the weight of
twelve or even fourteen pounds. Many parts of the Thames produce fine Bream, as at
Walton, Hampton, Kingston, &c. In the Midland Counties, as in the Trent and the Ouse,
Bream are abundant ; Air. Manley says that the Ouse is decidedly the best Bream river in
England. The Norfolk Broads are also mentioned as producing Bream of a large size. In
Shropshire I have seen great quantities of large Bream taken out of the Aqualate Mere,
belonging to Sir Thos. F. Boughey, Bart.

Bream swim in shoals, and feed on worms and the larvce of water insects, together
with vegetable matter. Like some other of the Cyprinida:, the males during the spawning
season, which is in May, have white tubercles on the scales, and are rough to the touch.
These disappear when the season of reproduction is over. The Thames fishermen bait their
hooks with small red worms and brandlings ; when hooked in deep water, according to Mr.
Francis, the Bream "has a disagreeable nack of boring head down, and rubbing and chafing
the line with its side and tail, so that the line often comes up for a foot above the hook
covered with slime."

The flesh of the Bream is generally soft, insipid, and full of fine bones, and in little
estimation for the table ; but Mr. Francis assures us that when taken off a clean gravelly
or sandy bottom in the winter time, "when the weed is out of them," they are by no means
bad eating. This is quite probable, as the quality of the flesh of various fish depends to a
considerable extent on the character of the water inhabited by them, and on the season of
the year. In more ancient days the feeding and eating of Bream were more in fashion than
at present. Chaucer says of his Frankeleyn —

" Ful man}- a fat partrich had he in mewe,
And man}' a brem, and many a luce in stewe."

{Piologm- Cant. T. 3+9.)

Juliana Berners says that "the Breme is a noble fysshe and a deynteous." Dr. Badham
quotes a French proverb, ''Qui a braiic pent brainer scs amis;'" "he who has Bream is able
to ask friends to his table." Sir William Dugdale mentions that about the year 14 19 a
single Bream was valued at twenty pence, when the day's labour of a mason or master
carpenter was less than sixpence, from which three-halfpence was deducted if his food was
supplied to him. He also tells us that a pie containing four Bream was sent from Sutton,
in Warwickshire, to the Earl of Warwick at Mydlam in the north country, at the cost of
sixteen shillings ; which amount included the wages of two men employed for three days in
catching the fish, together with the spices and flour for making the pie.—{//ist. IVarw.,
p. 568.)

COMMON BREAM. 55

Bream are caug-ht in enormous quantities in some places on the Continent. Nilsson
tells us that when the fishing is being carried on in Sweden, in some of the parishes near
the lakes it is forbidden to ring the church bells, that the noise may not alarm the fish.
Ten to forty thousand pounds weight of Bream have been taken at a single haul of the
net. Siebold {Siisscrimsscrf., p. 124) states that Bream, being eminently gregarious in their
habits both at spawning and other times, are caught in immense number in the Spirdingsee
and Bodensee below Constanz. "Even now," he says, "from time to time many hundred
tons {vichi-crc linndcrt Toiincu Brachsen) of Bream are taken from the Spirdingsee at a single
draught of the large winter nets."

Bream, like Carp and Tench, are tenacious of life, and will live for some time out of
water. Though poor fare for the table, Bream are most useful fish in large ponds and lakes
where there are many Pike, to which they contribute a constant supply of food.

The derivation of the word Bream is obscure ; clearly it is only another form of the
German Brachsen, French Brane, Old High German Bra/isema, Dutch Brassem. The Low
T.atin form of the word is Bresviia ; I suspect this is merely an altered form of the Greek
A^pafjL.i'i, the derivation of which I have been unable to discover.

The head of the Bream is small ; body very deep and compressed behind the ventral fin ;
tail much forked. The colour of large or moderate-sized specimens is yellow and brown on
the back, pale below.

The hn rays are

Dorsal 12.
Anal 26 — 30.
Ventral 10.

The throat-teeth are 5 — 5.

The specimen figured was caught by a net in the Aqualate Mere last May (1878), and
obligingly given to me with any other fish that I required by Sir Thomas F. Boughey, Bart.

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Dn the JhAMES, NEAI^pTON.

Order IV.
PHYSOSTOMI.

Family
CYPRINIDJE.

WHITE Bream, or ^reamflat.

V<D

fAbraiiiis blicca.)

Blicca, Ballmi^, Pkdya,

Cyprinus admodum I at us d tenuis,

Cyprinus bjHrka,

Cyprinus blicca,

Abramis blicca.

White Bream,

Blicca bjbrkna,

Gesnek, De Aquatil. i). 2+.

Artedi, Spec. Pise. p. 1 2 Xo. 2+.

Lin., Sys. Nat. p. 532.

Block, i. p. 65 pi. 10.

Cuv., R. A. ii. p. 274; Gi;NTHER, Cat. vii. p. 306.

Yarkell, i. p. 387; Couch, Fish. Brit. Isl. iv. pi. iSS.

Siebold's Siisserwasserf. p. 138.

npHE White Bream Is a much smaller species than the Common Bream, and is far less
-1- widely distributed over the countr)- it seldom exceeds one pound in weight, and is
worthless as an article of diet ; it is of bright silvery hue, and quite destitute of the yellow
or colden lustre of its near relation. It is hardly possible to distinguish this species from
the'youn.. individual of the Common Bream, because though the White Bream has never
any yellowish tint, generally observable in large or middle-sized specimens of the other
species, yet young Common Bream are very frequently white, and so similar m appearance

POMERANIAN BREAM.

and form to the Breamflat, that discrimination is difficult until the throat-teeth are examined.
The difference has already been pointed out in my notice of the Common Yellow Bream.

This species was first observed in this country in 1824, by the Rev. Revett Sheppard,
who obtained specimens from the river Trent, near Newark ; it was subsequently found by
the Rev. L. Jenyns in the Cam, where it is called the Breamflat. It is much more common
on the Continent, breeding in lakes and slow-running rivers ; it is valued simply as affording
food for Pike and other voracious fishes. The specific name, blicca, is from the Anglo-Saxon
verb blican, "to shine," to which also the name Bleak (Alburmts lucidus), another Cyprinoid,
must be referred. The geographical distribution of the White Bream, according to Giinther,
is Europe, north of the Alps.

The fin rays are

Dorsal 10 — i j .
Pectoral 14.
Ventral 9 — 10.
Anal 22 — 27.

Hybrids between the White Bream and the Roach have been observed in Holland,
Belgium, and Germany.

:OMERANIAN

IREAM.

rriHE fish to which Mr. Yarrell has given the name of the Pomeranian Bream, from the
-L country in which it was first discovered by Bloch, viz. Swedish Pomerania, and which has
been generally regarded as a species of Abyamis distinct from the Common Yellow and White
Breams, is in all probability a hybrid between the Common Yellow Bream (Abramis brama),
and the Roach {Lenciscus rutilus). Bloch, who has figured and described this fish in his
work, Naturgescliichtc der Fische Dcuischlands, p. 95, gave to it the name of Cyprinus Buggen-
hagii, from the name of the gentleman, M. Buggenhagen, from whom he had received
specimens. The late Mr. Yarrell received specimens of this fish from the waters at Dagenham
Breach, Essex, in the year 1836. Mr. William Thompson, the Natural Historian of Ireland,
noticed a specimen of this fish taken from the sluggish river Lagan near Belfast {Nat. Hist.
Ircla7id, iv. p. 137). It has also been found in Cambridgeshire, in a tributary of the Colne
near Hanworth, Middlesex, and in the Avon. I have had an opportunity of seeing a great
number of these so-called Pomeranians which were caught in a net in different parts of
the Aqualate Mere, Staffordshire, on the 7th. of May, 1878. Through the kindness of the
proprietor. Sir Thomas F. Boughey, Bart., I was invited to be present when parts of this
great sheet of water were netted, and allowed to take home with me such specimens as I
desired. Siebold {Siisserivasserjischc, p. 134), identifies this fish as the Abnwiis Lenckartii of
Heckel, and states that it has been found in the Somme and Moselle by Selys-Longchamps,
and in the Dniester by Nordmann ; he certifies that it belongs not only to the basin of the
Lower Rhine, but that it is also found in its middle course and its tributaries. Professor
von Siebold is strongly of opinion that this fish is a hybrid between the Common Bream
and some Leuciscus, although he has promoted it to the rank of a genus by giving it the
name Abra7nidopsis Lenckartii. He says at the conclusion of his observations, "I will only

POMERANIAN BREAM. 59

remark now that, although I have taken Heckel's A. Leiickariii to be a particular species,
and have raised it to a genus, I have doubts whether this fish really deserves this special
classification. The more specimens I have had to pass through my hands of A. Leuckartii,
from different countries of Middle Europe, the more it appears to me that this Cyprinoid is
nothing but a hybrid (Bastard) between an Abramis and a Laicisus.'" — (P. 137.)

The Pomeranian Bream has been admirably described by Dr. Giinther as "a Roach-like
modification of the Bream, or a Bream-like modification of the Roach." It differs from an
Abramis in having a low back, less compressed body, a much less extended anal fin with rays
not more than eighteen or nineteen, whereas in the Bream that fin has twenty-eight to thirty ;
it has not the long, scaleless, compressed ridge at the fore part of the back so characteristic
of a true Abramis; the shape of the dorsal fin is different, it does not diminish sharply
from the anterior extremity to the posterior basal portion ; the belly behind the ventral fins
is covered with angularly bent scales, in Abramis the scales do not extend across it ; on
the other hand this part of the belly is strongly Bream-like, being compressed into an edge;
the throat-teeth in all the specimens I examined were in a single row of five ; Siebold found
six teeth on the left throat-bone twenty-four times in forty-five specimens, while in one
specimen he found on the left throat-bone a double series, namely 1.6, and on the right a
single series of 5 ; in another he found 1.5 teeth on the left and 5 on the right. Although
the form and number of the throat-teeth in the Cyprinidce afford a good guide in seeking
to determine species, and although the number of teeth, whether in a single or double series,
is generally more or less characteristic of a species, I have found that here, too, there is
no rule without exceptions. On the whole the throat-teeth of this hybrid presents us with
such a combination as one would expect in a fish intermediate between a Bream and a
Roach. I have specimens of the pharyngeal teeth and throat bones of the Roach, Bream,
and of the fish under consideration, and can confidently affirm that in this case also Giinther's
description of this fish, quoted just now, is most appropriate and correct. I may notice that
when netting the large mere of Aqualate, only portions of which, on account of its great size,
are available for this purpose, sometimes the net would bring to shore an immense quantity
of Bream without any Roach ; in such cases there were no Pomeranians ; sometimes Roach
and no Bream were caught, here again there was an absence of the Pomeranians ; but in
every case where the net secured both Bream and Roach, there was always found a certain
number of these fish. The evidence, therefore, taken on the whole, satisfies me with the
correctness of Professor von Siebold's opinion that the so-called Pomeranian Bream is merely
a hybrid — but an exceedingly interesting one — between Abramis and Lcucisciis, and that in the
specimens I have been fortunate enough to examine that Lcuciscus is the L. riitilus, or the
Roach.

One of the names which the German fishermen give to this fish is Lciicr, which means
"a guide." Bloch states that the fishermen are greatly delighted when they take this fish
in their nets, because they say they may then expect a successful haul. They have an idea
that other Bream follow this fish. Siebold mentions this name when he says, "Very large
specimens grown in the Frische Haff have been given to me at Tolkemit by the fishermen
as so-called Leiter (guides)."

In a specimen from Aqualate Mere, measuring eleven inches from the snout to the
bifurcation of the tail, the greatest breadth was four inches, the length of head two and a
half; the origin of the ventral fin was about an inch in advance of that of the dorsal ; the
lateral line descending at first, then straight, then gradually and slightly ascending to a
point nearer to the lower portion ; irides pale straw ; colour of pectoral, ventral, and caudal
fins brownish, slightly tinged with red ; scales large ; whole body much more full and round
than in the Bream, not compressed in the upper part of the back ; belly compressed towards
the anal fin and tail. Back at the upper part bluish black; sides and belly silvery white.

6o POMERANIAN BREAM.

The fin-ray formula was

Dorsal 12.
Pectoral 16.
Ventral g.
Anal 18.

The specimen from which the illustration was made was captured in the Aqualate xMerc.

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■z
•z.

On the pE:R^Ai■E^^T

Onhr IV.
PHYSOSTOMT.

Familv
CYPHIXIDjE.

iLEAK.

[Albicnins ii/cidiis.)

Alhurnus,

Alhtinius Ausonii,

Cypruius quincuncialis, ^c,

Cyprinus alhurnus,

Bleak,

Albicnius lucid us.

Ausox., Id. X. 126.

Gesner, De Aquatil. p. 23; Willughky, p. 263.

Artedi, Spec. Pise. p. 10 No. 19.

Lin., Sys. Nat. i. p. 531; Donovan, Brit. Fisli. i. [il. 18.

Pennant, Brit. Zool. iii. p. 324; Couch, Fish. Brit. Isl. iv. pi. 105.

Yarrell, i. p. 419.
Gunther's Cat. vii. ]). 312; Siebold, .Siisserwasserl". p. 154.

Characters of the Genus Alburnus. — "Body more or less elongate; scales of moderate size; lateral line runnincr
below the median line of the tail; dorsal fin short, without spine, opposite to the space between ventrals and anal;
anal fin elongate, with more than thirteen rays. Lower jaw more or less conspicuously projecting beyond the upper.

Lips thin, simple Upper jaw protractile, (iill-rakers slender, lanceolate, closely set; pseudobranchia; Pharyngeal

teeth in two series, hooked; belly behind the ventrals compressed into an edge Europe; Western Asia." — GiJNTHER.

IZAAK WALTON has admirably described the little Bleak, which he aptly calls the
Fresh-water Sprat, as "a fish that is ever in motion;" "and therefore," he adds, "called
by some the river swallow; for just as you shall observe the swallow to be ever in motion,

62 BLEAK.

making short and quick turns when he flies to catch flies in the air, by which he lives, so
does the Bleak at the top of the water." How often have I in Oxford days, while waiting
to take the accustomed oar in the University or College Boat, sat watching these silvery
little fish, so abundant in the Thames and Cherwell, and admired their swallow-like move-
ments ! The Bleak is supposed to be referred to by Ausonius in his Idyll on the Moselle,
in the line —

" Norit et Alburnos prsedam peurilibus hamis."
"Who does not know the Bleak, the prey of boys' fish-hooks?"

The Bleak, which is found in many of our English rivers, as in the Thames, the Lea,
the Trent, is said by Couch not to be a native of Ireland, that doubt exists as regards
Scotland also, and that it is unknown in Cornwall and Devonshire. It is gregarious in its
habits, is readily taken by a small artificial fly, or with a small bit of red worm, at a depth
of ten to twenty inches. The spawning time takes place in May, at which time, as is the
case with several other Cyprinoids, the head and gill-covers are rough to the touch. The
little Bleak, says Siebold, as it swims near the surface of the water, often perceives when
some rapacious Perch make a rush at it from underneath, when it jerks itself for a considerable
space out of the water, and thus eludes the pursuit of its enemy.

From its surface swimming habits, as Siebold also remarks, it becomes very often the
prey of birds, as the Sea Swallow (Tern), and as these fish generally are infested more or
less with parasitic entozoa, the birds that swallow them become infested also.

We must never despise anything because it is small ; everyone is familiar with those
little, shining, brittle globules known as artificial pearls ; the apparently insignificant, yet
withal beautiful Bleak used to be the chief element in their production. A French bead-maker,
by name Jaquin, found out how to make these artificial pearls, which, as Beckmann observes,
"approach as near to nature as possible, without being too expensive." Jaquin noticed that
when these fish, called ables or abkttes (a word evidently formed from alburnus), were washed,
the water was filled with fine silver-coloured particles. This he allowed to settle, and then
collected the sediment, which had the lustre of most beautiful pearls ; this soft shining
powder he called essence of pearl, or essence </' orient. At first he coated with it beads of
gypsum or hardened paste, and, as Beckmann observes, "since everything new, particularly
in France, is eagerly sought after, this invention was greatly admired and commended." It
was found, however, that when exposed to the heat the pearly coat came off and adhered
to the skin, which gave it a brightness far from desirable, so the ladies, for whose use it
was chiefly intended, proposed to M. Jaquin that small hollow glass beads should be coated
over in the inside with this essence of pearl. This he succeeded in doing; small glass
tubes were dipped in, and the pearly pigment injected into hollow glass globules of various
sizes and slightly different forms. The Bleak were caught in enormous numbers in the Seine,
the Loire, the Saone, and the Rhine; four thousand fish producing about a pound weight
of pearl essence, worth to the fisherman about twenty-five francs. The scale-deprived fish
were sold at a cheap rate as food for the common people. Jaquin' s date is uncertain,
Reaumur mentions the year 1656. From France the invention found its way to this and
other countries. I do not know whether the art of making these Bleak-scale pearls is
practised at the present day or not. I may mention that Dr. Badham states that the manu-
facture of pearls from Bleak scales was at length superseded by that of Roman pearls, of
soft unrivalled lustre ; the Roman pearl-powder was obtained from the swim-bladder of some
species of Athcrina caught in immense numbers in the Tiber.

According to Izaak Walton, Bleak are "excellent meat;" Mr. Cholmondeley Pennell says
that "a few dozen Bleak marinated form an excellent breakfast dish;" Mr. Francis considers
them "very delicate eating when cooked in the way in which Sprats are commonly cooked;"

MINNOW.

Mr. Manley holds that they "are neither worth the cooking nor eating, having a muddy
flavour, or at the best being tasteless, while they are too large to eat like Whitebait, and
too small to get a solid mouthful from."

From the Bleak's preference to feed in places where drains pour in their foul water,
some have supposed arises the presence of a kind of tapeworm which infests the intestines
of this fish, and that the agitated manner in which it often swims on the surface of the
water is to be accounted for by the presence of its parasitic guest; hence the term "Mad
Bleak," as applied to this fish when performing these uneasy gyrations. This may be so,
but why are not other fish equally affected in a similar way? I have opened a great
number of fish belonging to various families, and my experience is that they always contain
parasitic entozoa, and very frequently tanicc or tapeworm. A glance at Diesing's Systema
Hehninthitvi, vol. ii. p. 383 to 423, will show how extremely liable are all fish to various
parasitic entozoa in different parts of their bodies. In the Roach Diesing enumerates as
many as fourteen species as occurring; in the Bleak he mentions six, the species of tapeworm
in the latter fish being the Tania torulosa of Batsch.

The Bleak seldom attains to a length beyond seven inches ; the colour when fresh is
light greenish, or light brown with a slight tinge of blue; sides, cheeks, and belly brilliant
silver ; eye very large ; the dorsal fin is situated far back ; cleft of the mouth directed upwards.

The fin-ray formula is

Dorsal 10.
Pectoral 17.
Ventral 9 — 10.
Anal iS.

The specimen figured was taken from the Thames at Oxford.

Hybrids between the Bleak and Chub, and the Bleak and Rudd have been described.

Order IV.
PHFSOSTOMI.

Family
CVPRINID^.

IMINNOW.

{Leiuisciis pho.xiiius.)

Pkoxinus, Belon, De Aquatil. p. 322.

Pisciailus varius ex Phoxinorum gencre, Gesner, p. 715.

A Pink or Minim or Minnow, Willughby, Hist. Pise. p. 268.

Cyprinus tridadylus varius oblongus tcretiusculiis, Artedi, Spec. Pise. p. 12 No. 23.

Cyprinus phoxinus, Lin., Syst. Nat. p. 528; Do.novan, Brit. Fish. iii. pi. 60.

Leucisciis pkoxinus, Fleming, Brit. An. p. 188; Yarrell, i. p. 423; Thompson,

Nat. Hist. Ireland iv. p. 138; Gunther's Cat. vii. p. 237.

Phoxinus laevis, Siebold's Siisserwasserf. p. 222.

Minnow, Minim or Pink, Yarrell, i. p. 423; Couch, Fish. Brit. Isl. iv. 64.

XT is not at all certain that the fish of which Aristotle speaks under the name of ^o^iw?
-*- is the Minnow of our rivers and streams, although this term has been applied to this
little fish ever since the time of Belon (born about A.D. 15 18). The Greek word signifies

64 MINNOW.

"tapering to a point," which may have reference to the hinder part of the body of a Minnow,
which is somewhat elongated and slender. Aristotle speaks of the phoxinus as having ova
inside it as soon as it is born, and as depositing its ova in a stream, and adds that the
males devour great numbers of them, while other ova perish in the water.

The Minnow, as its name declares, from minivius, "very little," is the smallest of the
British Cyprinidcc, seldom exceeding three inches and a half; it is found in many rivers and
streams of this countiy. It is believed not to have been originally a native of the Irish rivers,
and to be still a very local fish in that countr}\ In Scotland it is said to be common.

The Minnow is a very prolific breeder; the abdomen of the females in June being greatly
distended with ova ; the spawning season lasts only a short time, generally not more than two
or three days, and the eggs soon become young fish. Yarrell says he has taken them three-
quarters of an inch long by the first week in August. The young fellows are quite trans-
parent with the exception of the large black eyes ; it is said that in this state the larvae of
the May-fly {EpJiancra vulgata) are among their greatest enemies ; the diminutive fry seem
t-o be aware that they owe their safety to concealment, for when exposed they immediately
bury themselves in the gravel. In an aquarium, or in a small clear pond they become tame.
It is quite amusing to observe a whole host of hungry Minnows chasing a bit of bread about.
These little fish are free biters and are readily caught with a small hook and a piece of a
worm ; as spinning-bait for Trout, Perch, and small Pike, the Minnow cannot be surpassed ;
he is moreover a very handsome little fish. "Lay one when in full season," Mr. Manley
enthusiastically says, "on the palm of your hand, examine and admire him. Mark his shape
— a miniature Salmon in symmetrical configuration. Mark his beautiful colouring — every
shade of olive, white, pale brown, silver, pink, and rosy harmoniously blended, and producing
that beautiful mottled appearance which reminds one of the Mackerel and of the Salmo fonti-
nalis, the lovely American Brook-trout, which I hope before long will be naturalized in many
of our waters." According to Mr. Manley, small Minnows are an excellent substitute for
real Whitebait.

The Minnow is said occasionally to eat its own dead, a feature which can hardly recommend
itself to our admiration. A writer in the fifth volume of Mr. Loudon's Magazine of N'atiiral
History relates that, crossing a brook, he saw from the foot-bridge something at the bottom
of the water which had the appearance of a flower. "Observing it attentively," he adds,
"I found that it consisted of a circular assemblage of Minnows; their heads all met in a
centre, and their tails diverging at equal distances, and being elevated above their heads,
gave them the appearance of a flower half-blown. One was longer than the rest, and as
often as a straggler came in sight he quitted his place to pursue him ; and having driven
him away, he returned to it again, no other Minnow offering to take it in his absence. This
I saw him do several times. The object that had attracted them all was a dead Minnow,
which they seemed to be devouring." This ring or flower-like arrangement of their bodies
round some attractive morsel as a nucleus I have repeatedly witnessed myself.

The characters of this species are thus given by Dr. Giinther: — ^" Dorsal fin opposite to
the space between ventrals and anal. Mouth anterior; upper jaw slightly overlapping the
lower ; body cylindrical. A blackish spot at the base of the caudal (which is forked) ; a
more or less distinct series of blackish spots along the side of the body, the spots sometimes
confluent into a band. Pharyngeal teeth uncinate, 5 or 4.2, 2.4 or 5. Gill-rakers very
short and few in number; pseudobranchise. Europe."

The fin rays are

Dorsal 9.
Pectoral 16.
Ventral 8 — 9.
Anal 9 — 10.

LOACH

Order IV.
PHYSOSTOMI.

Family
Cl'PRINIDuE.

OACH

{NcTuackilits barhatulus. )

Cobitis fluviatilis barba/ula.

The Lochc; Germanis, Griiiidel,

Cobitis tola glabra maculosa, corpore sublereti,

Cobitis barhatiila,

The Loach, Lochc or Beardie,
Nemachilus barhatulus.

Gesner, De Aquatil, p. 40-1..

WiLLUGHBY, Hist. Pisc. p. 265.

Artedi, Spec. Pisc. p. 2 No. i.

Lin., S_vs. Nat. i. p. 499; Yarrell, i. p. -1.27; Donovan, Brit.

Fish. i. pi. 22; SiEJiOLD, Siisservvasserf. ]>. 337.
Yarrell, i. p. 427: Couch'.s Fish. Brit. Isl. iv. pi. 199.
GiJNTHER's Cat. vii. p. 354.

Characters of the Genus Neiiachilus. — "No erectile suborbital spine. Si.x barbels, none at the mandible. Dorsal
fin opposite to the ventrals. Air-bladder enclosed in a bony capsule." — Gijnther.

rriHE Loach, Loche, Stone-Loach, Beardie, or Groundling is a well-known little fish, common
-'- in most of our brooks and streams ; but on account of its habit of hiding with its
body more or less concealed from view under stones or under submerged bodies it is not
often seen. It is found in various streams throughout Europe, with the exception of Denmark
and Scandinavia.

The Loach delights in clear running rivulets, which it prefers to broad rivers ; during
the day-time it keeps chiefly to the bottom, and thus affords great pleasure to country lads,
who have to exercise a little ingenuity and skill in catching the slimy creatures, which
dart rapidly away when disturbed from their places of concealment. From the possession of
the six barbules which fringe the upper lip, four in front and one at each angle, it may
be inferred that the Loach principally obtains its food from the bottom of the water; these
barbules are most beautifully and abundantly supplied with nerves, and no doubt serve as
instruments of touch, whereby the little fish is enabled to discover the nature of its food.
The small size of the Loach renders it an excellent subject for dissection under a binocular
microscope, and an examination of the nerves with which these cirri or barbules are supplied
will repay anyone who cares to study the matter.

The Loach spawns in March and April ; the number of eggs, which are very small, must
be very great, for at this period the females have their abdomens ver)' much distended with
the ova. The fecundity of this fish seems to be alluded to by Shakespeare: — "Your chamber
lie breeds fleas like a Loach;" that is, I suppose, is as prolific of fleas as a Loach is of
spawn.

This fish has been, and still is by some persons, accounted an excellent food. "In some
parts of Europe," says Yarrell, "these little fishes are in such high estimation for their
exquisite delicacy and flavour, that they are often transported with considerable trouble from
the rivers they naturally inhabit to waters contiguous to the estates of the wealthy." Siebold
also tells us that owing to the .savoury flesh of this fish, it is in universal estimation, and
frequently brought to market.

The Loach feeds on the larvae of aquatic insects, and such small worms as it can meet
with ; it will not unfrequently bite at a baited hook. Their small size, however, is no

66 SPINED LOACH, OR GROUNDLING.

inducement for the fisherman, unless he wants them as bait for Trout, small Pike, or Perch,
and even for this purpose they are not to be recommended, for the flesh is delicate.

The Loach, and the Spined Toach, the next species to be described, are the only two
British fresh-water fishes which have their air-bladder enclosed in a bony capsule, a peculiarity^
however, which is common to all the group of the Cobitidina. This bony capsule, in the
Loach, consists of two globular cases connected together by a short transverse channel. It
is situated near the second vertebrae. By means of a fine needle these osseous capsules may
be broken, and the air-bladder disengaged. This organ is figured in Yarrell, who, however,
mistook its nature, he regarding "these circular bones as analogous to the scapulae."

The Loach seldom exceeds the length of five inches, and generally does not attain to
that sixe ; the head is somewhat depressed or flattened ; eyes small ; snout produced ; body
round at first, then flattened ; origin of the dorsal fin about half way between the end of
the snout and the root of the tail. Colour prettily marbled or mottled with dark brown ;
tail and dorsal fin with brownish-black spots in cross bands ; ground colour of head, body,
and sides yellowish white.

The fin rays are

Dorsal 9- — 10.
Pectoral 1 2.
Ventral 7.
Anal 6.

The generic name of Nciiuuliilits {i.e. "thread-lipped") contains such species of the group
as do not possess an erectile suborbital spine, like the Spined Loach. "The Common
Pond-Loach," {Cobitis /ossilis), to which Dr. Badham and Mr. IManley refer, whose favourite
pastime is to roll and wallow in the mire of his pond, the Schlaimnpitzgcr and Moorgrundel
of the Germans, found in Central and Eastern Europe, is not known to occur in this
country. The origin of our English word Loach, with which the French Locke and the Spanish
Loja are identical, is obscure. The German names of this fish are Bartgrundel and Sclunerlc.

Urder IV. Familv

PlirSOS TOM J. C J 'PRIXID^.

Spined fioACH. or -Groundling.

{Cobitis taniai)

Cohitis acukata, Gesner, De Aquatil. p. 404.

Cohitis harhalida acukata, Willughby, p. 265.

Cohilis aculeo hifurco infra utrumquc oculum, Artedi, Spec. Pise. p. 3 No. 2.

Cobitis ticnia, Lin., Sys. Nat. i. p. 409; Block; Lac^p^de; Cuv. and Val. ;

SiEBOLD, Siisserwasserf. p. 338; Gunther's Cat. vii. p. 362.
Botia tccnia, Yarkell, i. p. +32; Couch, Fish. Brit. Isl. iv. p. 72

Characters of the Genus Cobitis. — "Body more or less compressed, elongate; back not arched. A small, erectile,
bifid suborbital spine below the eye. Six barbels, only on the upper jaw. Dorsal fin inserted opposite to the
ventrals; caudal rounded or truncate. Air-bladder enclosed in a bonv capsule. Europe; East-Indian Continent." —

GiJNTHER.

S PINED LOACH, OR GROUNDLING. 67

npHE Spined Loach is a very small fish, seldom exceeding three inches in length, and but
-L little known in this country. It is said to occur in the Trent near Nottingham, in the
clear streams of Wiltshire, Warwickshire, and Cambridgeshire. Its habits are probably similar
to those of the Stone-Loach. According to Siebold, the Spined Loach— the Dorngrundel or
Steinbisser of the Germans — is the smallest of the species known on the Continent, never
exceeding four inches at most. "Its propagation is similar to that of the Bissgitrre {Codiiis
/ossilis), and it lives in concealment like it, only with this difference, that it does not increase
to the same extent, and chooses for its abode brooks and streams as well as ponds."

The spawning time is during the warm months of spring.

The spine is forked and moveable, but what its functions may be I know not ; I have
been unable to get hold of a specimen of this fish. According to Yarrell, the form of the
body is still more elongated, slender, and compressed than that of the Loach ; the nose
more pointed ; the mouth and eyes smaller in proportion ; the pectoral fin longer and nar-
rower ; all the fins occupy the same relative situation. The colours are similar, both of
the body and fins, but a row of dark brown spots ranged along the side is the most
conspicuous.

The fin -ray formula is said to be

Dorsal 8 (but lo according to Giinther).
Pectoral 9.
Ventral 6 — 7.
Anal -•

^';^^ LIBRARY
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
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On the Wve.

Order IV.
PHYSOSTOMI.

Family
CLUPEIDJE.

:LLIS ^HAD.

\C I II pea alosa.)

A/ausa,
Cliipca alosa,

Alosa covimunis,
Alosa vulgaris.
All is,
All is Shad,

AusoN., Id. X. 1. 127.

Cuv., R. A. ii. p. 319: Jenyns' INIan. p. 43S ; Gunther's Cat.

vii. p. 433.
Yarrell, ii. p. 213; Parnell, Jlem. Werner. Soc. vii. p. 330.
SiEBOLD, Siisserwasserf. p. 328.
Pennant's Brit. Zool. iii. p. 307.
Couch's Fish. Brit. Isl. iv. p. 117.

Characters of the Genus Clupea. — "Body compressed, witli the abdominal serrature extending forwards into the
thoracic region. Scales of moderate or large, rarely of small size. Upper jaw not projecting beyond the lower. Cleft
of the mouth of moderate width ; teeth, if present, rudimentary and deciduous. Anal fin of moderate extent, with
less than thirty rays ;. dorsal fin opposite to the ventrals ; caudal forked. Inhabitants of the coasts of every part of
the globe ; many species entering fresh water." — Gunther.

r I "^WO British species of Shad are known to occur in the waters of our coasts and in some
-L of our rivers, namely, the Allis Shad and the Twaite Shad, and so similar are they in
general form and appearance, that they have, both in ancient and modern times been fre-
quently confounded. There seems to be no doubt that under the name of dpitraa, rptx"*, and

70 ALLIS SHAD.

other similar forms, certain species of the Chipeidce were known to the ancient Greeks,
but I do not agree with those authors who refer the Opia-cra of Aristotle, ^lian, Oppian,
Athenseus, and others, without the slightest hesitation exclusively to either of our Shads,
although it is probable these fish were known both to the ancient Greeks and Romans. The
Greek word Optacra is derived from 0pi^, Tpixof, "a hair," and probably has reference to the
hair-like bones which are contained in the flesh of most of the Herring family ; and conse-
quently the Shad may be, with others of the Chipeidce, included under the Greek name. Be
this as it may, ancient authority has referred the Qtaaa of the Greeks, and the alausa which
Ausonius mentions, to a Shad. From this latter word the Germans have formed their ahen,
elson ; whence also our English word Allis as applied to the species under our consideration.
Dr. Badham says that the Shad "forms one of an elaborately finished group of mosaic fish
in a house at Pompeii." Here, then, there is evidence of these fish having been known to
the Romans. Ausonius, in the line —

" Stridentesque focis opsonia plebis alausas,"

speaks of the Shad as pauper's fare; whether this was the general opinion amongst his
countrymen one cannot say.

The Allis Shad ascends some of our rivers in the months of April and May for the
purpose of spawning. It is a local fish, being of rare occurrence in the Thames, but in
some seasons abounding in certain parts of the Severn and the Wye. It is said to be
frequently taken on the north-eastern coasts of England, as at Berwick ; also at the mouth
of the Tweed in autumn. According to Parnell, it is of rare occurrence in the Firth of
Forth ; the same writer says that "it is frequently reported that Herrings of a large size,
measuring from twenty to twenty-four inches in length, are occasionally taken off the Dunbar
and Berwickshire coasts, and which the fishermen name the Queen of the Herrings, but that
it is probable the fish they allude to is the Allis Shad." — (Fishes of ilie Firth of Forth, p. T):ii2
in vol. vii. Mem. Wcrn. Nat. Hist. Soc.) Mr. Buckland tells us that he once received a tele-
gram from a gentleman saying that a monster Herring had been taken in the fresh-water
part of the Tay, weighing five pounds and a half. This of course proved to be the Allis
Shad. The Shad used at one time to ascend the Severn as far as Shrewsbury, but I am
told it is never now found higher up than Worcester. I may mention that the Flounders
used to ascend the Severn as far as Shrewsbury several years ago, but that they have long
ceased to do so. The Severn navigation weirs prevent the ascent of Shad and Flounders
beyond certain parts of the river ; excepting in very high tides Shad seldom come up as
far as Diglas, which is about one mile below Worcester. The spawning of both species of
Shad has often been observed in the gravelly pools near Powick, on the Teme, near
Worcester. The Shad spawns in May and early June, and chooses shallow rocky places.
The fishermen near Worcester call the Shad the "May-fish," as do the Germans. Couch
says that the " proceeding is conducted at night, at which time the fish may be heard to
make a rattling noise, as if beating the water with their tails." After spawning the Shad
soon return to the sea, where they are occasionally caught with a line b}- those who are
whiffing for Pollacks, the bait being either the Mud Lamprey or a slice of Mackerel ; they
have also been caught with a trammel in deep water.

When in the rivers, where they remain on an average about two months, they are taken
in nets of two hundred yards long, the mesh being one of three inches. Couch states that
seventy to eighty dozen have been caught in a night, the time chosen for taking this fish,
which has the character of being shy and timid.

The flesh, as an article of diet, is fair, and though far inferior, in my opinion, to that of
a Herring, it is nevertheless good food. I believe that the London markets and the markets

TIVAITE SHAD. 71

of the large towns are supplied vvith Shad to a considerable extent from Holland, a country
famous for its fisheries.

I have already remarked that the two species of Shad are similar, and that it is not easy
to distinguish the one from the other on mere external inspection ; there is, however, a
character which reveals itself on an examination of the gills, and which is a decisive test as
to the species, whether it be the Allis or the Twaite {alom ox finta). In alosa the gill-rakers
are fine and long, in number from sixty to eighty, on the horizontal part of the outer branchial
arch ; in finta these gill-rakers are strong and bony, in number varying from twenty to
twenty-seven.

The Allis Shad, or " King of the Herrings," as it is sometimes called, grows to the
length of two feet or more, with a weight of about three pounds, and this is not uncommon ;
but fish of five pounds' weight and more have been noticed. The specimen I had for
examination measured twenty inches in length, and about six inches in its greatest breadth
above the dorsal fin ; its weight was three pounds and a half.

The height of the body compared with the length is as one to four and a half; ventral
fins behind the origin of the dorsal; tail deeply bifurcated; there is a large blackish blotch
just behind the upper portion of the gill-cover, which is sometimes followed by a series of
smaller black patches. As a rule, the next species {Clupca finta) is more generally marked
with these smaller patches.

The fin-rav formula is

Dorsal 19.
Pectoral 15.
Ventral 9.
Anal 20 — 2'

Order 71'. Fiunilv

PHFS0ST0.)ff. clupeid.t:.

*WAITE ^HAD.

{Clupca finta.)

Tivaite S/iad, Yarrell, ii. p. 208; Couch, Fish. Brit. Isl. iv. p. 123.

Clupca apice ma.xilhc supcriun's hifido,

maculis nigris utnnqiu-, Artedi, Spec. Pise. p. 15 No. 2.

Clupca fiillax, LAcfii'^DK, v. p. 452.

Alosa finla. Yarrell, ii. p. 20.S ; Siegold, Siisserwasserf. p. 332 ; Cuv., Regne

Anim.

Clupca finla, Jexy.vs' Islim. p. +37; Gi'.VTHER, Cat. vii. p. 435-

THIS species is both in general appearance and habits very similar to the Allis Shad,
with which it has often been confounded; the distinction, first pointed out by Troschel,
lies, as noticed in what has been said when speaking of the Allis Shad, in the shape and
number of the g-ill-rakers. The Twaite Shad never attains to the size of the other species, nor
is it considered as good a fish for the table. It enters some of our rivers about May for

72 TWAITE SHAD.

the purpose of spawning; on which account this fish, as well as the Allis Shad, is on the
Continent sometimes called "May-fish;" it remains in our rivers for two or three months,
and then descends to the sea. These fish were formerly very abundant in the Thames.
Yarrell says that Twaite Shads appear during the months of May, June, and July, in great
numbers in the Thames from the first point of land below Greenwich, opposite to the Isle
of Dogs, to the distance of a mile below, and that many are taken, but that they bring a
small price to the fishermen, being in litde repute as food, "their muscles being dry and full
of bones." The present condition of the Thames, I suspect, prevents this periodic migration
of the Twaite Shad.

Some writers have supposed that the Twaite can be distinguished from the Allis by its
possessing teeth in both jaws, and by having a row of dusky spots along each side of the
body, the Allis having one spot only near the head ; but Dr. Giinther has shown that it is
impossible to form "a systematic arrangement of a group of animals based exclusively on
differences in an organ which has become rudimentary, or where it is subject to even
individual variations." The teeth in the members of the genus Clupca are a ver}' unsafe
guide whereby to lead to real characteristic distinctions; "they are more or less completely
lost in a number of individuals either by accident or by age ; those on the tongue, if
present, are a more constant part of the dentition ; yet there are numerous species in which
the lingual teeth are few in number, and as readily lost as those in the jaws. Nearl)^ the
same may be said with regard to the teeth on the palate ; and innumerable instances mav
be met with in which it is impossible to say whether a certain bone has been provided
with teeth or not." In the two Shads there is no real difference in the dentition ; neither
species has teeth on the palate, the vomer, the tongue, or on the under jaw, while the teeth
on the intermaxillary and the maxillary (upper jaw) are deciduous. Both species are occa-
sionally marked with a series of blackish patches along the sides of the body ; in the
discrimination, therefore, of these two Shads, recourse must be had to the examination of
the gill-rakers as the only safe guide.

What the derivation of the terms Shad, and Thwaite or Twaite ma}' be, I know not ;
the specific name o{ Jinta is the Italian finta, "simulation." The French name of this Shad
is La Fcinte, and doubtless, as Littre says, was given to this species because it resembles the
Allis Shad; '■'■ Ainsi dit parce que c' est tine alose feintc.'''' The Germans generally call the Allis
Shad Die MaifiscJi, or Aluffcrhanrig, and the Twaite Shad Die Finte.

There is no real difference in the fin rays of this species from the other Shad.

MCZ LIBRARY
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A^'-l

On the pooN

Or,ier IV.
PHYSOSTOMI.

Family
ESOCID.E.

f^IKE.

fEsox Indus. J

Lucius,

Esox rostra phigioplateo,
Esox bicius.

Pike or Pickerell,

AusoNius, Id. X. 122; Gesner, De Aquat. p. 500; Willughby, Hist.

Pise. p. 236.
Artedi, Spec. Pise. p. 26 No. i.
Lin., Sys. Nat. i. p. 516; Donov., Brit. Fish. v. pi. 109; Jenyn.s' Man.

p. 417; GOnther's Cat. vi. p. 226; Siebold, Siisserwasserf. p. 325.
Willughby, p. 236; Pennant, Brit. Zool. iii. p. 424, ed. 1812; Yarrell,

i. p. 434; Couch, Fish. Brit. Isl. iv. p. ijo.

Characters of the Genus Esox. — "Body elongate, covered with small cycloid scales, many with a muciferous channel ;
lateral line distinct ; eye of moderate size. Snout elongate, broad, depressed, with the lower jaw the longer; cleft
of the mouth very wide. Teeth of the mandible in a single series, unequal in size; some large; intermaxillary,
vomer, palatine, and hyoid bones with bands of cardiform teeth; maxillary toothless. Dorsal fin opposite the anal.
Caudal forked." — Gdnther.

THE Pike was probably unknown to the ancient Greeks; at any rate there is no mention
of this fish in any Greek author; among the Latins, Ausonius is the only writer who
clearly alludes to it in the followinq- lines: —

74 PIKE.

Hie etiam Latio risus prsenomine, cultor
Stagnorum querulis vis infestissima ranis
Lucius, obscuras ulva ctenoque lacunas
Obsidet: hie nullos mensarum lectus ad usus,
Fervet fumosis olido nidore propinis. (120 — iz+.)

"Here also, under a name ridiculous in Latium,* an inhabitant of the ponds, a most hostile power to the croaking
frogs, the Pike (Lucius) haunts the pools dark with weed and mud ; this fish, chosen for no uses of the table, steams
with a bad smell in the smoking cook shops."

Dr. Badham renders the passage in verse, less literally, —

"The wary luce midst wrack and rushes hid,
The scourge and terror of the scaly brood.
Unknown at friendship's hospitable board.
Smokes 'midst the smoky tavern's coarsest food."

The Pike is supposed by some to be an introduced fish into this country, and although
it is now very common in the rivers, ponds, and lakes of England, Wales, Scotland, and
Ireland, there is evidence to show that at one time it was considered rare. " In the latter
part of the thirteenth century," says Yarrell, "Edward the First, who condescended to regulate
the prices of the different sorts of fish then brought to market, that his subjects might not
be left to the mercy of the vendors, fixed the value of Pike higher than that of fresh
Salmon, and more than ten times greater than that of the best Turbot or Cod." Pikes are
mentioned in an act of the sixth year of the reign of Richard the Second, 1382, which
relates to the forestalling of fish, (see Pennant, Brit. Zool. iii. p. 425, ed. 181 2); and they
were served at the great feast given by Archbishop Neville in the year 1466. Pike are said
to have been so rare in the reign of Henry the Eighth that a large one sold for double the
price of a lamb in February, and a Pickerel (or small Pike) for more than a fat capon.

According to Couch the Pike is known in almost every part of England except Cornwall.
It is found in the fresh waters of the temperate parts of Europe, Asia, and North America;
in American specimens, according to Glinther, there are generally seventeen anal rays, and
only exceptionally nineteen ; whilst the European examples have nineteen, a less number being
of very rare occurrence.

The usual haunts of the Pike in the deep pools of slow-flowing rivers, and weedy ponds,
did not escape the notice of Ausonius as quoted in the lines above. "In such places, shrouded
from observation in his solitary retreat, he follows with his 63^6 the motions of the shoals of
fish that wander heedlessly along; he marks the water-rat swimming to his burrow, the duck-
lings paddling among the water-weeds, the dabchick and the moorhen leisurely swimming on
the surface ; he selects his victim, and like the tiger, springing from the jungle, he rushes
forth, seldom indeed missing his aim : there is a sudden rush, circle after circle forms on the
surface of the water, and all is still again in an instant." — [British Fis/i and Fisheries.)

I need not give many instances of the well-known voracity of the Pike; such as may be
seen in the works of some of the old writers, as Gesner, Rondeletius, Walton, and others.
But the following quite modern story (for it happened in June 1856) is well authenticated, and
is given by Mr. Cholmondeley Pennell in his excellent handbook The Angler N'atnralist ; it is
headed "Particulars of an Encounter with a Fish in the month of June, 1856." The account is
given by the boy's father, Mr. George Longhurst, of Sunning Hill. "One of my sons, aged
fifteen, went with three other boys to bathe in Inglemere Pond, near Ascot Racecourse ; he walked

*■ Lucius was a favourite prcenomen among the Romans, as is attested by the frequent occurrence of the letter L.
at the beginning of inscriptions. King Lucius Tarquinius Priscus appears to have been the first important personage
who bore the name, which is evidently derived from lux, "light." Ausonius means to say that it is ridiculous for
so worthless a fish as the Pike to be called after a name which kings and nobles have borne.

PIKE. 75

gently into the water to about the depth of four feet, when he spread out his hands to attempt
to swim ; instantly a large fish came up and took his hand into his mouth as far up as the
wrist, but finding he could not swallow it, relinquished his hold, and the boy turning round,
prepared for a hasty retreat out of the pond ; his companions who saw it, also scrambled out
of the pond as fast as possible. My son had scarcely turned himself round when the fish came
up behind him and immediately seized his other hand, crosswise, inflicting some very deep
wounds on the back of it ; the boy raised his first-bitten and still bleeding arm, and struck
the monster a hard blow on the head, when the fish disappeared. The other boys assisted him
to dress, bound up his hand with their handkerchiefs, and brought him home. We took him
down to Mr. Brown, Surgeon, who dressed seven wounds in one hand ; and so great was the
pain the next day, that the lad fainted twice ; the little finger was bitten through the nail, and
it was more than six weeks before it was well. The nail came off and the scar remains to
this day." And what became of the Pike? Retribution quickly followed this would-be boy-
devourer! "A few days after this occurrence, one of the woodmen was walking by the side
of the pond, when he saw something white floating. A man, who was passing on horseback,
rode in, and found it to be a large Pike in a dying state ; he twisted his whip round it and
brought it to shore. Myself and my son were immediately sent for to look at it, when the
boy at once recognised his antagonist. The fish appeared to have been a long time in the
agonies of death ; and the body was very lean and curved like a bow. It measured forty-one
inches, and died the next day, and was, I believe, taken to the castle at Windsor."

There is an old myth that the Pike will spare the Tench, his piscine "physician." The
following stor)% communicated by Dr. Genzik to Mr. C. Pennell, will show that he does not
hesitate to attack a human physician, or at any rate a medical student. "In 1829 I was
bathing in the swimming school at Vienna with some fellow-students, when one of them —
afterwards Dr. Gouge, who died a celebrated physician some years ago — suddenly screamed
out and sank. We all plunged in immediately to his rescue, and succeeded in bringing him
to the surface, and finally in getting him up on to the boarding of the bath, when a Pike
was found sticking fast to his right heel, which would not loose its hold, but was killed and
eaten by us all in company the same evening. It weighed thirty-two pounds. Gouge suffered
for months from the bite."

Referring back to the Pike sparing the Tench, because the former fish is grateful for
supposed services rendered by the latter in rubbing itself against the Pike's wounds, and
thus healing it by the application of mucus, I should hardly have thought it necessary to
refute the story, were it not that some modern authors are inclined to think there is some
truth at the bottom of it.

"The Pike, fell tyrant of the liquid plain,
With ravenous waste devours his fellow train ;
Yet, howsoe'er by raging famine pined.
The Tench he spares — a medicinal kind;
For when, by wounds distrest or sore disease.
He courts the salutary fish for ease,
Close to his scales the kind physician glides
And sweats a healing balsam from his sides."

That Pike may prefer one kind of fish to another is not only probable in theory, but
known as a fact, and It is likely enough that this "fell tyrant of the liquid plain" would
rather dine on a fat Gudgeon or bright-scaled Dace than on a slimy Tench ; but it is not
true that the Pike refuses to swallow Tench; \ have frequently caught Pike when trolling
with a small Tench, and others have the same experience. Moreover, the late Rev. W. Bree
gives the following evidence, which is pretty conclusive:—"! turned into a pit fifty-seven
small Tench, and upwards of three score Crucian Carps; and not a great while afterwards,

76 PIKE.

having discovered the presence of Pikes in this piece of water, a net was employed, with
which three of that species were taken, which weighed respectively about three pounds, two,
and a pound and a half; but all that remained of the other fishes which had been placed
in this pond were one Tench that weighed a pound and a half, and eight Crucians of about
a pound each. I cannot have the smallest doubt that the Pike devoured the fish that were
missing, and those nine that remained only escaped because they were rather too large for
these Pikes to swallow." — {Zoologist, 1853, p. 4125.)

When a Pike is hungry, in that frantic state so well described by Charles Kingsley as
partly induced by the north-east wind,

"Hungering into madness
Every plunging Pike,"

almost any kind of food is acceptable ; water-voles, rats, young ducks, little goslings, young
moorhens, dabchicks, and fish of all kinds enter into a Pike's food-list; besides garbage
occasionally; and even it is on record that the head of a swan, as the bird was feeding
under water, has been seized by one of these ravenous fish. Toads seem to be the only
creatures the Pike refuses to swallow.

Pike spawn in March and April, and sometimes in February; Siebold gives April and
May; there is doubtless difference as to time in this respect. The roe is small, and in
canals and ponds is deposited among the weeds ; where possible, a pair of Pike will seek
the small bays, creeks, and shallows of the waters inhabited by them, and place their spawn
there, returning after the season to more open waters. The young are said to be produced
in about thirty days, and their growth to be rapid ; but of course growth depends in a great
measure on the amount and quality of food they can get.

The size to which Pike, under favourable circumstances, will attain, is very considerable.
The largest on record is the one mentioned by Gesner, who relates that in the year 1497 a
Pike was caught in a pool near Hailprun (Heilbronn) in Suabia (Neckar-Kreis, Wiirtemberg),
with a brass ring fixed in the skin under the gills, a portion of which ring was still bright.
Gesner gives a figure of this ring, which is before me as I write ; its diameter, measuring
from the outer periphery, is just three inches and a half; the breadth of the margin is just
a quarter of an inch ; at the bottom of the ring Is a double series of round metal balls of
the size of large peas, three in each series, which is separated by an interval, and the balls
are attached to the ring each by a pedicle ; engraved round the margin of the ring is a
Greek inscription, easily read, the translation of which is as follows: — ^"I am that fish that
was first put into this lake by the hands of the Emperor Frederick the Second, on the fifth
day of October, 1230." On the top of this ring a smaller one was fastened, by which it
was attached to the fish. The six circular balls are supposed, by Gesner, to signify the
Imperial Electors. The diameter of the smaller ring is an inch and five-eighths ; its margin
is a quarter of an inch in breadth. If this story is correct, the Pike in question would
have been two hundred and sixty-seven years old from the time it was placed in the lake ;
it is said to have weighed three hundred and fifty pounds, but I do not find this on the
authority of Gesner. Mr. Cholmondeley Pennell, who has very accurately reproduced old
Gesner's figure of the ring, with its inscription, mentions one Leham, who had seen a
drawing of both Pike and ring, in a tower on the road between Heilbronn and Spires ; this
writer says that as late as the year 161 2 the water from which the Pike was taken was
still named Kaiserwag {}) or the Emperor's Lake. "The ring and the skeleton of the Pike,"
adds Mr. Pennell, "are stated to have been long preserved in the cathedral at Mannheim,
the skeleton measuring nineteen feet ; but upon subsequent examination by a clever anatomist,
it was discovered that the bones had been lengthened to fit the story — in other words, that

PIKE. 77

several vertebrae had been added." Considering that we have authentic records of Pike
attaining to the weights of forty, seventy, and even ninety pounds, there seems no reason to
disbelieve entirely the old "Ring-story." As Mr. Pennell says, "taking all the circumstances
of the case into consideration, as well as the amount of concurrent testimony produced, there
appears to be no reason to doubt that a Pike of extraordinary size and age was actually
taken at the place and time stated. It is to be observed, in estimating the probabilities of
the narrative, that It was certainly the custom in earlier times to put metal rings into the
gill-covers of fish; and as late as 1610 a Pike was taken in the Meuse bearing a copper
ring, on which was engraved the name of the city of Stavern and the date of 1448." —
{Angler Naturalist, p. 190.)

One of the largest recorded British Pike was taken in Loch Ken, Kirkcudbrightshire ; it is
mentioned in Daniell's Rural Sports and by other writers. The head is now in the possession
of the Hon. Mrs. Bellamy Gordon, of Kenmure Castle, Kirkcudbrightshire, to whom I am
indebted for some particulars concerning this monster fish. It is said to have weighed over
seventy-two pounds, and to have been about seven feet in length.* The Pike from some of
the Continental lakes, however, exceed even this weight. Dr. Genzik, of Lintz, assures Mr.
Pennell that in the fish markets there, as well as in those of Vienna and Munich, Pike of
eighty and ninety pounds weight and upwards are not unfrequently exposed for sale; the
same gentleman saw a Pike taken at Oberneukirchen which after being cleaned weighed
ninety-seven pounds and some ounces ; and he was informed by an officer of Tyrolese Rifles
that he was present when in 1862 a fish was caught at Bregentz of more than one hundred
and forty-five pounds weight.

Large Pike are not unfrequently caught in the pools at Weston Park, Shropshire, the seat
of the Earl of Bradford. His lordship mentions to me a specimen of Pike in his possession
which weighed thirty-seven pounds and a half. "One year," he says, "I remember taking two
at the same time which weighed thirty and thirty-three pounds." In Mr. Frank Buckland's
Museum, South Kensington, several casts of Pike, admirably executed and well coloured, may
be seen ; I particularly noted one fish, of thirty-five pounds weight, caught in a net at Rabley
Lake, Windsor, in October, 1874. It must have been in splendid condition; the breadth and
depth were enormous. There is also a cast of one Pike being partly swallowed by another;
the pair weighed nineteen pounds; both were found dead in Loch Tay in 1870. As Mr.
Buckland remarks, "they were probably charging at the same bait."

As to the quality of the flesh of this fish there is much difference of opinion ; some persons
will not eat it on any account, others regard it as most excellent food. In the case of Pike,
as in that of fresh-water fish generally, much depends on the waters inhabited, the amount of
food, and the time of the year. A Pike of four, six, or ten pounds weight, taken out of a
river where White Fish and other kinds abound is almost always, In my opinion, a good fish ;
the same may be said of Pike taken from lakes and large ponds well supplied with food ; but
Pike taken from small muddy pools insufficiently stocked with other fish, and caught soon after
spawning, are worthless, I confess, and such specimens, I suspect, must have come under the
notice of the Roman poet who, as we have seen, considered the Pike unworthy of a gentleman's
table, and fit only to "steam away with unpleasant odour In smoky cookshops."

Trolling for Pike is a sport which Is deservedly In high favour with anglers generally;
the baits employed are Roach, Dace, Perch, Bleak, Gudgeon, and small Tench — a Goldfish is
an attractive lure. Pike are sometimes caught with a large artificial fly, as In Salmon fishing.

* The Honourable Mrs. Bellamy Gordon tells me that this fish, which was caught about one hundred and twenty
years ago by John Murray, keeper at Kenmure, was taken by an artificial fly made of peacocks' feathers ; that the
head has lost some of its bones, and that in consequence it looks smaller than it used to do, but that it is still
large in comparison to the head of a Pike of twenty-seven pounds weight also caught in Loch Ken about forty years
ago, and preserved in the same case.

78 PIKE.

In discoloured water the spoon bait is often very effective. But I must refer my readers, who
require information on such points, to Mr. Cholmondeley Pennell's Book of the Pike and to
Mr. Francis Francis's Book on Angtuig, where the fullest information and instruction will be
found.

The body of the Pike is elongated, of uniform depth from the shoulder to the origin of
the dorsal fin, then narrowing ; the head flat and wide ; under jaw the longest ; gape exces-
sively wide ; eyes large and prominent ; distinct mucous pores on the lower jaw, as also on
the upper surface of the head. The dorsal fin and the anal are very far back, and are
opposite; tail forked and broad. Colour of head and upper part of the back olive brown,
becoming lighter on the sides, and broadly specked or mottled with green or yellowish green,
with many scattered roundish yellow spots ; belly white or silvery white.

The fin-ray formula is

Dorsal 19.
Pectoral 15.
Ventral 10.
Anal 19.

The name of Pike doubtless alludes to the length and shape of this fish's body. In
Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic Words we learn that Luce was generally applied to large
full-grown fish, in the last stage of life; "first a Jack, then a Pickerel, thirdly a Pike, and
last of all a Luce." "The Pike of the fisherman," says Yarrell, "is the Lucie of heraldr}^
from the Latin or old French name. Three silver Pikes in a red field were the arms of
the ancient baronial families of Lucie of Cockermouth and Egremont." Shakespeare fMet^ry
Wives of JVindsor, i. i,) refers to this fish in the arms of Sir Thomas Lucy, of Charlecote,
Warwickshire.

A fine specimen was presented for the use of this work by Major Brooksbank, of
Middleton HaH.

Salmonid^.

"T^R. GUNTHER has well remarked that "the Salmonidce and the vast literature on this
-*-^ family offer so many and so great difficulties to the ichthyologist, that as much patience
and time are required for the investigation of a single species as in other fishes for that
of a whole family. The ordinary method followed by naturalists in distinguishing and
determining species is here utterly inadequate ; and I do not hesitate to assert that no one,
however experienced in the study of other families of fishes, will be able to find his way
through this labyrinth of varieties without long preliminary study, and without a good
collection for constant comparison. Sometimes forms are met with so peculiarly and con-
stantly characterized, that no ichthyologist who has seen them will deny them specific rank ;
but in numerous other cases one is much tempted to ask whether we have not to deal
with a family, which, being one of the most recent creation,* is composed of forms not yet
specifically differentiated."

The difficulties here spoken of by Dr. Gtinther, in his preface to the sixth volume of
his Catalogue of the Fishes in the British Museum (London, 1866), have been in a great measure
overcome, thanks to the great knowledge and the laborious patience of the eminent
ichthyologist himself, and although no doubt a good many questions relating to the life
history of some of the members of this family remain at present unanswered, yet it may
be safely asserted that Dr. Giinther has successfully combated most of the difficulties which
beset the study of the Salmouidcc, and that in him we have an excellent and most trustworthy
guide in threading our way through what was before, what he so well describes, a labyrinth
of confusing variations. I was well aware of some of these difficult questions before I
undertook to write this present work, and therefore from the very day almost on which
I embarked, I kept my eye and mind almost without intermission on questions relating to
this family of the Salmonida ; I have visited various parts of England, Wales, and Ireland,
in order to make enquiries, and especially to procure specimens, and on the whole I may
congratulate myself on my success.

Under the family name of British Salmonidce are included the various species of Salmon
proper, whether migratory or non-migratory, the Charrs of the North of England and of
Wales, the Pollan, the Gwyniad, and the Vendace of Ireland, Wales, and Scotland respectively,

* "No fossil true Salmo is known at present; the nearest fossil approaching to it is a RIallotusr

8o SALMONIDyE.

the Graylingr, and the Sparling-, or Smelt. But it is only in the first sub-generic group
{Salmo)ies) that we meet with such infinite variations as to cause the difficulties alluded to ;
these variations are dependent on age, sex, and sexual development, and the properties of
the water, as Giinther has remarked. There is, however, another fact in the history of some
of them which serves still further to increase complications, and that is that some of these
Salmonoids interbreed.

As to points of variation we find that there is great difference in the colouration between
the different individuals of the same species. Again, colouration varies in the same individual,
according^ to age and sexual development ; thus the young of the Salmon, as indeed of all
the Salvionidcc perhaps, are striped transversely with dark bars ; the colour of a male or a
female Salmon in the spawning season (November, December,) is often adorned with various
tints of red, yellow, and blue, totally unlike the colouration of the same fish earlier in the
year with its bright silver}^ scales. "Nimium ne crede colori" must ever be remembered,
because colour rarely assists in distinguishing a species, there being- perhaps not one which
has the same colour at all periods of its life.

The size of some of the Salmonida is subject to variation ; and this depends mainly, if
not entirely, on the amount of food to be obtained. I have seen a Trout two years old,
taken out of a fair-sized piece of water where food was abundant, which weighed nearh"
three-quarters of a pound ; whereas another individual of the same age, which had lived in
a small pond with many other Trout for the same length of time and wnth little food, would
weigh not more than two ounces and a half.

Structural variation occurs in the snout in a most marked degree. The long pointed
snout of a male ready to spawn is different from that organ before the milt is matured;
so in the form of the mandible or lower jaw, which in the breeding- season is generally
bent upwards, there is great difference. The tail, moreover, is subject to variation ; in young
specimens, in the parr state, that organ is always more or less deeply incised in all the
species of Salvio ; in the grilse state the tail is still incised, but not so deeply as in the
parr state, whilst in a full grown Salmon the tail is almost square ; so that here we should
follow a very fallacious guide did we fail to remember that variation occurs relating to the
age and the sexual development of the fish. But not only is the caudal fin thus liable to
structural variation ; we are assured by Dr. Giinther that the form and length of all the fins
may vary. Species inhabiting rapid streams, as well as still waters, show considerable
variations; "those individuals which live in rapid streams, being in almost constant motion,
and wearing off the delicate extremities of the fins, have the fin rays comparatively shorter
and stouter, and the fins of a more rounded form, particularly at the corners, than individuals
inhabiting ponds or lakes ; moreover, one and the same individual may pass a part of its
life in a lake, and enter a river at certain periods, thus changing the form of its fins almost
periodically." — (P. 5.)

In the texture of the surface of the body variation occurs. In old males the epidermis
is always tough during the spawning season, the scales are more or less deeply imbedded
in the skin, and therefore not easily deciduous ; this is not the case at other seasons of the
year.

Thus it will be seen that in all these instances of variation, whether in colouration or
in structure, it would be unsafe to depend on them as guides in discriminating species,
because such characters are not constant ; they are variable according to the age and sexual
development of the fish. But it may be asked, have we no reliable guides on which to
depend? Are there no constant characters? Dr. Giinther draws attention to the following
points upon which, he thinks, the chief stress should be made in discriminating species.

I. "The form of the prseoperculum of the adult fish." This will be readily seen by
the subjoined woodcut, a is the prseoperculum of the Sewen (S. cambricus), which at a* has

SALMONID^.

a distinct and well-developed lower limb ; b is that of 5. brachypoma, which at b* has scarcely
a trace of a lower limb. This character may be said to be constant, and I have always

Fig. 1. (After Giinther.) Fig. 2.

found it a safe guide in discrimination. It should be remembered, however, that in the
young of all the Salmonoids the prseoperculum has a short lower limb, and that whilst "in
some species it lengthens with age, its development in a horizontal direction is arrested in
others."

2. "The width and strength of the maxillary of the adult fish." This character is well
shown in the accompanying woodcuts. a is the maxillary or upper jaw of the Common
Trout, b that of the Lochleven Trout, each fish being of the same size, namely, twelve

n. Common Trout-

^, Locblcven Trout.

(After Giintlicv.)

inches long. I have before me a young specimen of the Common Brown Trout with, parr
marks distinct, from Ellerton Hall ; it is about four inches long. I have also before me a
parr Salmonoid from the Dee, near Min-yr-Afon, the residence of Mr. Bigge, caught in
August, 1878; it is about five inches in length. The young parr state in all the Salmon
family is very similar, and a general examination of the young of the different species would
fail to detect any difference. Now in the first of these two specimens [S./ario) the maxillary
reaches almost to a level with the posterior orbit of the eye ; in the Dee Salmonoid the
maxillar}' reaches only to the centre of the eye. Here is a most important character, for I
know at once that this young Dee Salmonoid is the parr stale of the Sal/no caiiibriciis. There
are other indications as to this being the species, but I pass over them for the present.

3. "The size of the teeth, those of the intermaxillaries excepted."

4. "The arrangement and the permanence or deciduousness of the vomerine teeth." This
is a character of some importance ; in some species the teeth are arranged on the vomer in
a double series, in others in a single one ; but as the teeth forming a single series are often
arranged alternately, or in a kind of zigzag way, presenting somewhat the appearance of a
double series, and other irregularities also occur, a definite arrangement is not always evident.
In some fish these vomerine teeth are persistent, in others deciduous.

SALMONID^.

5. "The form of the caudal fin in specimens of a given size, age, and sexual development."

6. "A great development of the pectoral fins when constant in individuals from the same
locality."

7. "The size of the scales, as indicated by the number of transverse rows above the
lateral line." Dr. Giinther regards this as one of the most constant characters.

8. "The number of vertebrae; the constancy of this character is truly surprising, excess
or diminution in the number being of rare occurrence."

9. "The number of pyloric appendages." In some species the number varies from
thirty to fifty; in others, as in the Salmon and Charr, it is very constant; in the Lochleven
Trout these caecal appendages are generally very numerous, from seventy to ninety; and
where the normal number is diminished, this has been brought about by the confluence of
some of the caeca. I may mention a striking instance of the value of this character in the
case of the Galway Sea Trout {Sahiio gallivensis) ; in a specimen before me, a fish about ten
inches long, the pyloric appendages are very short, the longest is not more than half an
inch, and about a line in diameter.

Certain points in the life history of the Salmon or other species of the Salmo7iida which
yet remain obscure will be noticed in the accounts of the different fish as they come before
me. I give here a tabular arrangement of the various species of British Salmonida, which I
hope will be found useful.

SALMONID.E.

FIRST GROUP— SALMONINA.

First Sub-generic Group— SALMONES.

MIGRATORY SPECIES.

Salmo salar, Lin., (Salmon.)

S. trutta, Flem., (Salmon- or Sea-Trout.)

S. cambricus, DoNOV., (Sewen.)

S. brachypoma, Gthr., (Short-headed Salmon.)

S. gallivensis, Gthr., (Galway Sea-Trout.)

S. argenteus, Guv. "c Valenc, (Silver Salmon.)

S. erio.x, Yar., (Bull Trout of the Coquet.)

NON-JJIGRATORY SPECIES.

Salmo fario, LiN., (Common Brown Trout.)
S. ferox, Jard. & Selby, (Great Lake or Black

Lough Trout.)
S. stomachicus, Gthr., (Gillaroo Trout.)
S. nigripinnis, Gthr., (The Black-Fin.)
S. levenensis, Walk., (Lochleven Trout.)

Second Sub-generic Group — SAL VELINI.

non-migratory species.

Salmo alpinus, Lin., (Alpine Charr.)

S. willughbyi, Gthr., (Windermere Charr.)

S. perisii, Gthr., (Llanberris Charr.)

S. grayii, Gthr., (Gray's Charr.)

S. colei, Gthr., (Lord Enniskillen's Charr.)

S. killinensis, Gthr., (Loch Killin Charr.)

Coregonus clupeoides, Lac, (Gwyniad of Bala.)
C. pollan, Thomps., (Pollan, or Fresh-water

Herring of Ireland.)
C. vandesius, Rich., (Vendace of Loch JMaben,

Dumfriesshire.)

Thymallus vulgaris, Xilss., (Grayling.)

migratory or non-migratory.
Osmerus eperlanus, Lin., (Smelt or Sparling.)

SECOND GROUP— SALANGINA.
No British species; (rivers and seas of China and Japan.)

MCZ LIBRARY
HARVAf'D UNIVERSITY
CAMBRIDGE. MA USA

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Order IV.
PHYSOSTOMI

Family
SALMONID^.

Suh-gencric group — Sai.mones.

S)ALMON.

f Salvia salar.)

Salmo fluvialilis,

Salmo,

Salmo rostra ultra inferiorem maxillam

SiCpe promincntc,
Salmo salar.

Salmon,

Sal mil I us,
Salmo sahnulus,
Salmo gracilis,
Samlt't and Parr,

Trutta salar.

Pliny, Nat. Hist. ix. i8.

AusoNius, Id. X. I. 97; \V]li.u<;hrv, Hist. Pise. p. iSq.

Artedi, Spec. Pise. p. 22 No. i.

Flem., Brit. An. p. i6g; Jen'yns' ]\Ian. p. 421: Yarrf.ll, ii. p. i;
Parnell, Fish, of Firth of Forth, p. 2 78 (Wern. Nat. Hist. .Soc);

GiJNTHER's Cat. vi. p. II.

Pennant, Brit. Zool. iii. p. 382 ed. 181 2; Couch, Fish. Biit. Isl. iv.

p. 163; Alex. Russel, Edmonston and Douglas, 1864.
Ray, Syn. Pise. p. 63.

Jenyns' Man. p. 426; Parnell, Wern. Nat. Hist. Soc. p. 298.
Couch, Fish. Brit. Isl. iv. p. 216.
Pennant, Brit. Fish. iii. p. 404 ed. 1812; Varkell, ii. p. 8:;;

Couch, Fish. Brit. Isl. iv. 245 pi. 221.
SiEBOLD, Siisserwasserf. p. 292.

Characters of the Genus Salmo. — "Body covered with small scales; cleft of the mouth wide, the ma.xillary extending

to below or beyond the eye. Dentition well developed; conical teeth in the jaw bones, on the vomer and palatines,

and on the tongue, none on the pterygoid bones. Anal short, with less than fourteen rays. Pyloric a]ipendages
numerous; ova larcre." — Gunther.

84 SALMON.

Characters of the Sub-generic Group Salmones. — "Teeth not only on the head of the vomer, but also along its
body; in a few species the posterior teeth are lost with age, and only a more or less conspicuous ridge remains
along the median line of the bone, which becomes visible after removal of the membrane." — Gunther.

rpHE Salmon, "the King of Fresh-water Fish," as old Izaak Walton rightly calls him, was
-L unknown to the ancient Greeks; being chiefly a northern fish, and not found in the
Mediterranean, it did not come within their knowledge. Pliny and Ausonius amongst Roman
writers allude to the Salmon; the former merely states that "in Aquitania the River-Salmon
is preferred to all sea fish." Ausonius gives a very good description of a Salmon, and
doubtless had both seen its movements in the Moselle and had tasted its delicious flesh, as
is evident from his lines —

"Nee te puniceo rutilantem viscere, Salmo
Transierim, latae cujus vaga verbera caudae
Gurgite de medio summas referuntur in undas,
Occultus placido cum proditur sequore pulsus.
Tu loricato squamosus pectore, frontem
Lubricus, et dubice facturus fercula coenae,
Tempora longarum fers incorrupta morarum,
Prresignis maculis capitis, cui prodiga nutat
Alvus, opimatoque fluens abdomine venter." (97 — 105.)

"Nor will I pass over thee, O Salmon, blushing with thy red flesh, the roving strokes of whose broad tail are
borne from the middle of the stream to the top of the water, at such time as the hidden lash betrays itself on the
calm surface. Thou, clothed in scaly armour, slippery as to thy fore part, and able to constitute a remove for a
most excellent dinner,*' dost bear keeping fresh for a long time; thou art conspicuous with thy spotted head; thy full
paunch trembles, and thy belly overflows with abdominal fat."

My own translation is literal. Pennant gives the following in blank verse, but with less
faithfulness to the original : —

to'

"Nor I thy scarlet belly will omit,
O Salmon, whose broad tail with whisking strokes
Bears thee up from the bottom of the stream
Quick to the surface: and the secret lash
Below, betrays thee in the placid deep.
Arm'd in thy flaky mail, thy glossy snout
Slippery escapes the fisher's fingers; else
Thou makest a feast for nicest-judging palates;
And yet long uncorrupted thou remainest:
With spotted head remarked, and wavy spread
Of paunch immense o'erflowing wide with fat."

Anonymous [^Brit. Zool. iii. p. 383-.)., ed. 1S12.)

The Salmon is an inhabitant of the fresh waters of the northern and temperate parts of
the world, occurring in Scandinavia, Iceland, Russia, Germany, Holland, France, Great Britain,
and North America. It is said also to occur in Northern Asia. Its geographical range in
temperate Europe reaches to about 43° north latitude; it extends southwards to the Bay of
Biscay, and appears to inhabit Northern Asia and America to latitude 41° north. It does
not occur in any of the rivers which flow into the Mediterranean. It is migratory in its habits,
descending to the sea after it has deposited its spawn on the gravelly beds of the rivers.
"The natural history of the Salmon," as Mr. Russel well says, "is not only interesting in
Itself— interesting for what is known and settled, for what is guessed and controverted, and
for what remains as utter mystery and dire perplexity — but is also important as having a
bearing upon, or rather forming an essential part of the commercial and legislative questions."

* The dtihia cana of the Romans implied so many good things that you did not know what to choose.

SALMON. 85

It has long been a disputed point as to whether the parr is the young- of Sabno salar or a
distinct species. There are, I believe, some people who still persistently maintain that the
parr is not the young of the Salmon, but a distinct species, notwithstanding the evidence
derived from the careful experiments of Mr. John Shaw, of Drumlanrig, in the years 1833-6,
who proved beyond a shadow of doubt that the parr was a young Salmon. This gentleman,
in a valuable memoir, before me as I write, succeeded in tracing the life history of the Salmon
from the ^<g^ up to its smolt stage of two years' growth.

The diameter of the ovum of a Salmon is one fourth of an inch ; according to Mr. F.
Buckland every female Salmon carries as a rule, about nine hundred eggs to a pound of her
weight; the spawning time is In November and December; "the female throws herself on her
side, and while In that position, by the rapid action of her tail, she digs a receptacle In the
ground for her ova, a portion of which she deposits, and again turning upon her side, she covers
it up by a renewed action of the tail — thus alternately digging, depositing and covering ova,
until the process is completed by the laying of the whole mass, an occupation which generally
occupies three or four days." — (Experimental Observatiotis on the Development and Growth of Sal-
111071 Fry, p. 565.) The only part the male fish performs, beyond the mere sexual function,
consists in the unwearied vigilance which he exhibits in protecting the spawning-bed from the
intrusion of rival males, all of which he assiduously endeavours to expel. The hatching period
lasts from ninety to one hundred and thirty days, according as the temperature of the water
facilitates or retards the development of the spawn. In a temperature of 40° the fish has been
observed to be hatched the one hundred and eighth day after impregnation ; when the
temperature did not exceed 33°, the hatching did not take place till one hundred and thirty-
one da3'S after impregnation, though in this case the temperature of the river during the last
forty days of that period had risen to an elevation of 60°. According to Mr. Shaw's experi-
ments the growth of the Salmon is as follows, though no doubt this growth is not the same
In all individuals, some growing faster than others. A young Salmon, with Its attached
umbilical sack of one day old. Is about seven eighths of an inch in length ; at two months
old It has attained the size of about one inch and three quarters, and bears many transverse
dark bars ; the little fish Is at this stage called a parr ; at four months of age the young
Salmon, or parr, is two Inches and three eighths long; at six months about three Inches; at
twelve months four Inches and a quarter; at eighteen months It Is nearly five inches and a
half, still bearing the parr marks ; at two years It attains the size of six inches, the parr
marks now disappearing, or being only faintly visible, and the fish assuming the characteristic
aspect of the smolt, commonly so called. In this latter's stage the young fish Is in colour and
form very like the parent Salmon ; It Is in this stage also that it rises most readily to an
artificial fly, and used to be caught by the angler in large quantities before the law interfered
with Its capture.

The sexual development of the male is subject to variety, for In some cases young smolts
of seven or eight inches long have their milt fully developed, and attend the older fish on the
spawning beds. Mr. Shaw succeeded in impregnating Salmon-ova with the milt of the male
parr In several instances. With the young female smolt the case appears to be different, for
the female smolt does not mature her ova. "No parr," says Giinther, "has ever been found
with mature ova." "Some advocates for the opinion of the specific distinctness of the parr,"
he adds, "pretend Indeed to have found female parrs. Those fish which were pointed out to
me as females were invariably specimens which had fed freely on the ova of their congeners,
and their stomachs had been regarded as the ovary! Some persons were so anxious to convince
me of the correctness of their opinion, that they sent me specimens with ova in the abdominal
cavity. On closer examination these fishes turned out to be Immature male specimens, the
ova having been introduced by a cut Into the abdomen, said to have been made to admit
the spirit." — (Catalogue, vl. p. 9, note.) It may, of course, be asked, why may not the females

86 SALMON.

occasionally mature their ova as the males do their milt? Mr. Shaw says that solitary instances
have occurred of large female parrs having been found in Salmon rivers with the roe con-
siderably developed, "and I find," he adds, "by detaining the female smolts in fresh water
until the end of the third winter, that individuals are found in this comparatively mature
condition."

Without denying the possibility of the female smolt partially maturing the ova, it must
be admitted that no case has been brought forward in which a female smolt has been shown
to have ova fully developed and ripe for impregnation. Even if such an instance should ever
be proved, it does not follow that the parr is a distinct fish. The large parr, nine or ten
inches in length, occasionally found in rivers, are simply the young of the Salmon, which,
not being ready for migration at the usual time, had remained for another year in the fresh
water of the river, and feeding, as we know they do, voraciously in this stage, it is possible
that a female smolt may occasionally partially develope the ova.

As to the length of time during which Salmon-fry remain in the rivers before they
descend to the sea, it would appear from experiments made at Stormontfield, on the Tay, in
1853-4, that there is, in this respect, a great amount of variation even amongst individuals
living under the same apparent conditions ; it seems that a considerable number of young
fish descend to the sea when they are about fifteen months old.* A parr hatched in February,
1878, say, maybe ready to take its journey seawards in Mayor June, 1879; it has also been
shown that a large number remain in the river till they are a little over two years old; a
parr hatched in February, 1868, may remain in the fresh water till May or June, 1870, and I
suspect that this is usually the case.

The young Salmon after remaining for some time in the sea returns to the river; it is
then called a grilse. How long does it remain in the sea before it returns to the fresh-water?
In experiments made at Stormontfield, a great number of smolts were marked by cutting off
the adipose fin, others by cutting the tail, and others by the fixing of silver rings. Between
twelve and thirteen hundred smolts were marked by cutting off the adipose fin and turned out
of the pond the first year, of these twenty-two are stated to have been caught as grilse that
same season; of those that left the pond the second year eleven hundred and thirty-five were
marked by cutting the tail, and of these several are reported to have been caught as grilse
in the course of their season. "Of all the smolts marked by the attachment of rings or other
effective means," says Mr. Russel, "whether in the Tay or other rivers, none have been got, as
either grilse or Salmon, tlie first year, and several have been got the second year. Of the Stor-
montfield smolts of the second year — descending in spring, 1856 — three hundred were marked
by silver rings, and of those none were got. It is quite possible indeed that all of the three
hundred that escaped their enemies in the sea, or even, we will suppose, the entire three
hundred, 'no wanderer lost,' may have returned to the Tay as grilse that season, and yet
none of them have chanced to be caught. But from other quarters we have what seems
positive evidence in favour of the second season.

In various years a great number of Tweed smolts were marked by a silver wire passed
through and fastened to the back part of their tails ; none of them were got as grilse or
Salmon the season they were marked, but the next season several of them were caught as
most indubitable grilses. Still later experiments on the Tweed, apparently on a smaller
scale, but conducted with great care, have brought out the same results. The Duke of
Roxburghe has preserved in his possession a fish which was marked as a smolt by the
insertion of a peculiarly shaped wire on the 14th. of May, 1855, and which was caught on
July 2 1 St. of the folloiving year as a grilse weighing six pounds and a half The more

* I do not believe, as some have maintained, but never proved, that a 3-oung fish ever grows so fast as to be
able to descend to the sea in the same year as that in which it was hatched.

MCZ LIBRARY
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
CAMBRIDGE. MA USA

<
o

SALMON. 87

recent experiments of Mr. Ramsbottom, of Drohulla, have also gone to support the doctrine
that the fish does not return until after thirteen to fifteen months in the sea; smolts turned
out of the nursery ponds and marked in May, 1862, having been caught as grilse in June,
July, and August, 1863, though there is in this case a possibility that the smolts may have
been turned out before they were ready to emigrate, and may after their expulsion have
spent in the river one of the two years which Mr. Ramsbottom assumes that they spent
in the sea. To what conclusion, then, on this point do these experiments conduct us? To
nothing absolutely certain ; but as a probability, supported by evidence small in amount, but
strong in quality, to this — that some at least of the smolts do not ascend as grilse, or as
anything else, till next year, or fifteen months after their descent ; and as another probability,
supported by evidence greater in amount, but not so strong in quality, that some of them
return the first year, or three months after descent. It may then be that both views are
correct." — [Natural Hist, of the Salmon, p. 54-56.)

Growth in a grilse or young Salmon takes place very rapidly during its sojourn in the
sea ; this is no doubt owing largely to the abundance of food in the form of Sand-eels,
young Herrings, Shrimps, etc., etc. I have taken as many as five large Herrings out of
the stomach of a Salmon that had been caught in the sea ; indeed I have invariably found
sea fish to have their stomachs full of food, whereas I have never been able to detect a
particle of food in a river fish. A smolt descending to the sea weighing only a few ounces
may return to the river weighing six, eight, or even fourteen pounds after some time feeding
in salt water. A remarkable instance of rapidity of growth is given on the authority of the
Duke of Athol {Quarterly Revieiv, April, 1863). The fish caught was first caught as a grilse
forty miles from the sea on the 31st. of March; it then weighed ten pounds. It went down
to the sea, and returned again in the short space of thirty-seven days, when it was again
caught ; it weighed twenty-one pounds and a quarter. This fact of a grilse returning so
soon to the river a second time would seem to show that the same individual may change
the salt for fresh water several times in the year, as thought probable by Dr. Giinther. It
is well known, that although the majority of the mature individuals ascend a river during
floods at a fixed period, for the especial purpose of spawning, others, either singly or in
troups, enter the fresh water early in the year, and indeed continue to come up every month
in the year. The cause of these non-periodic ascents to the river is unknown. These
early or clean-run fish of the spring months are always found to be in excellent condition ;
they are very fat, not only in the substance of their flesh, but in the large quantity of
adipose matter which is found on the pyloric appendages ; this serves as an internal source
of sustenance which supports the fish in its sojourn in the fresh water where it scarcely ever
feeds. These clean-run spring fish avail themselves of the spring floods and enter some of
our rivers ; but whether they remain in the fresh water from March to November, — -the
spawning season, — or whether, in some cases, they go down again to the sea before spawning,
one cannot say. It seems a long while for the internal supply of fat to last a fish — from
March to November— without food. "These fish," as Mr. F. Buckland says, "if there had
been no floods in the spring, would probably have remained in the sea, and would have
appeared in the river either in the first floods in July or August, or if there were no floods
in these months, they would have come up in November and December as large fish, which,
as experience shows, are generally the latest to come into the river, and which for the
most part spawn in the lower portions of the river." — [Famil. Hist. Brit. Fish., p. 369.)

The question of early and late rivers is a very important one ; according to the present
law it is illegal to take Salmon with a net after the end of August, the fishing beginning
again in February. This law "applies to all rivers, little or big," as Mr. Buckland says,
"those that run long courses and those that are of short length, those that have lakes at
or near their origin, those whose tributaries are simply rivulets rising high up in the

88 SALMON.

mountains, and those which have long reaches of spawning-grounds There are rivers

which Salmon never enter till the end of June and during July, August, and September;
their numbers then increase during October and November ; to the fishermen of these rivers
the months of February, March, (and often April,) are of no commercial use whatever ; nor
do the anglers even profit, because the waters contain not clean-run 'up fish,' but only
'down fish' that have lately spawned, and are not fit either for food or sport. The fishermen
on these rivers, therefore, are anxious to be allowed to prolong their netting season into
September, and in some cases even further; and at the same time they are willing to give
up fishing altogether in February and March, and in many cases even in April." — (P. 370.)
The same authority is of opinion that the presence of a lake at the head of a river has a great
influence in causing an early ascent of Salmon, as its "innate self-preserving faculty prompts
the Salmon to leave the security of the sea and make a run for the lake at the head of
the river, which it somehow knows exists — a most marvellous faculty, a faculty not possessed
by man — and wherein its instinct teaches it that it will be safe till the spawning time
arrives, when it can run up the tributaries of the lake." Mr. Buckland instances the Tay
as being proverbially an early river, fresh-run fish being found in Loch Tay as early as
January; on the other hand he adduces the river Conway as a good example of a late
river; in this case there is no lake at the head of the river, but there is a broad expanse
of water near Conway Bridge, or a lake at the bottom of the river. Here the fish remain for
a long time, till such time, in fact, as the spawning instincts prompt the fish to ascend
the river at all hazards. "I am certain sure," Mr. Buckland adds, "that this is right, and
hope eventually to see the day when angling in Conway and many other late rivers of
Wales, Devon, and Cornwall is made legal in November ; only no gaff must be used — only
a landing-net — and all the hen-fish returned carefully and uninjured to the water." Mr.
Buckland's explanation of the cause, or rather of one of the causes, which create early and
late rivers is most suggestive, and seems to me to be \&ry probable. I may mention Loch
Melvin as an instance of earl}' water ; the river Ban-drows has the Lake of Melvin at its
head, and the Salmon run from the sea up the river into the lake chiefly in the early
spring months.

The question as to the migratory Salmon ida returning to the rivers in which they were
bred appears to carry evidence of an affirmatory character; experiments have proved this to
be the case as a general rule ; though doubtless numerous individuals perish either from ex-
haustion after spawning, or from the attacks of various enemies, such as Porpoises, Dog-fish,
etc. Deaths from the first mentioned cause — exhaustion after spawning and the journey back
to the sea — appear to be of frequent occurrence. If the parents succeed in getting down to
the sea in tolerable health, they soon recruit their strength by abundance of food ; but a
large number are found dead every year. Buckland having examined a large number of
these dead fish could find no cause of death "except an anaemic condition, and a laxity of
fibre in the muscular tissue. I conclude therefore," he says, "that the natural cause of death
is (except in cases of violence or wounds from fighting) simply exhaustion ; most of these fish
found dead are males. It is very possible that the law of nature is that the large males shall die
in certain numbers, and thus leave room for the smaller males to keep up the breed. The
females are found dead much more rarely than the males ; these facts may also have some
bearing on the interpretation of the male smolt having its milt fully developed, and capable,
as I myself have proved by experiment, of fecundating the ova of adult fish. The female
smolt has the ova developed in a very minute degree at the time that the male smolt con-
tains ripe milt." — (P. 322.)

The male Salmon in the breeding season has its snout much produced, and the lower
jaw is bent upwards in the form of a hook, which fits into a hollow of the upper jaw ; giving
the fish an unsightly appearance. As no individuals, thus sexually characterised, are found in

SALMON. 89

spring or summer-run fish, it has been supposed that this hook — sometimes an inch or more
in length — has been absorbed, during the fish's sojourn in the sea. But it is more probable
that these old males perish, according to the observations of several ichthyologists.

The non-feeding of the Salmon during its abode in fresh vi^ater I have already alluded to.
That this is a fact I have verified myself in numerous instances ; other observers have done the
same. If it be asked how can muscular force be maintained for some months without food,
the answer is an easy one. The Salmon lives on Its own internal fat, stores of which are
laid up throughout the whole body of the fish, especially in the abdominal regions, and around
the pyloric caeca. Let any one compare the difference in the quality of the flesh between a
sea-fed Salmon and one that has been some time in a river. In the first case the abdomen
is tremulous with fatty matter, whilst the flesh of the river fish, though firm, is comparatively
destitute of fat. And this continued abstinence from food is no doubt, to a considerable
extent, the reason of the fish's gradual deterioration, till the exhausting process of spawning
renders the Salmon now quite unfit for food. The Salmon's abode, therefore, in fresh water,
should be regarded as a quasi-hybernation, during which life is maintained by stores already
laid up in the organism. That muscular force may be maintained, and in fact that it is
chiefly kept up by the combustion, not of the nitrogenous elements, but of the carbonaceous,
has been rendered tolerably certain, and the circumstance that a Salmon may move about for
a long time in fresh water without supplies of food beyond its own abundant fat, is not actually
much more than a further instance of what takes place in hybernating animals, as the bear,
which goes fat into winter quarters, and comes out very thin. The same may be said with
regard to experiments that have been made, showing that the Swiss mountains may be
ascended solely upon the strength afforded by butter and other non-nitrogenous food.

It may be objected again that the Salmon occasionally taking an artificial fly, must show
that it does take natural food in the river. But a fish will sometimes seize a bait more for
sport than from a desire to swallow it. What does an artificial Salmon-fly, with its glittering
tinsel and gaudy colours, resemble in nature ? Certainly no kind of winged insect, not even
a brilliant dragon-fly, either in form or motion ; no libclliila or agrion ever swims in the water,
least of all after the fashion in which the artificial fly is made to locomote by the angler.
Sir Humphrey Davy thought "that the rising of Salmon and Sea-trout at these bright flies,
as soon as they come from the sea into rivers, depends upon a sort of imperfect memory of
their early smolt habits." Perhaps so, but be this as it may, the undoubted fact that the
stomach and all intestinal tract are always found empty, it is a convincing proof that the
Salmon, as a rule, abstains from food during its sojourn in fresh water.* I have never found
anything in the stomach of a river Salmon except some whitish or yellowish mucus, and a
lot of tape-worms, whose presence, according to my experience, is almost constant.

It has been shown by Siebold that sterility often occurs in the Salvionidcc ; that some
individuals are not sexually developed, and that such differ from the ordinary fish. According
to Siebold this sterile state extends over the whole lifetime of the individual. It appears,
however, that this sterility is merely a temporary immaturity, and that a part of the individuals
arrive at a full sexual development at a later or much later period than others. Dr. Giinther
adds, that " many Salmonoids cease to propagate their species after a certain age, and that all
so-called overgrown individuals (that is, specimens much exceeding the usual size of the
species,) are barren, though they externally retain the normal specific characters." — (P. 8.)

Salmon, like the other migratory species generally, cannot be retained in fresh water
for any length of time ; they may live for two or three years, but do not thrive, and seem
quite unable to accommodate themselves to a permanent abode in fresh water. It would seem,

* I am speaking specially of fish before spawning ; as kelts they may feed. I have never examined the stomachs
of kelts, but I suspect they are in too great a hurry to rush down to the sea — their natural larder — than stop to feed
in the river.

go SALMON.

however, that certain hybrids, as between the Sewen and Trout, continue to grow in fresh
water.

The ova of the Salmon are capable of being impregnated by the milt of a Trout, or of
some other Salmonoids, and I believe the young are hatched in due time; but from inquiries
I have made, they do not thrive or live any length of time. The colouration in an adult
Salmon is not subject to much variety — being different in this respect from the Sewen and
Common Trout — excepting in the breeding season, when both male and female are marked
with large black and red blotches ; at this time the skin has become tough, and the scales
are deeply imbedded therein. Mr. F. Buckland says that the skins of such fish after spawning
are admirably adapted for tanning, and he advises his piscatorial friends to skin all the old
kelts the water-bailiffs find dead; "when prepared these skins will make slippers, gloves, or
binding for books."

Salmon grow to a large size ; the following is a list of the largest Salmon in Mr. Buck-
land's Museum at South Kensington :^

Weight »

Length

I.— Tay Salmon

yolbs.

4ft

Sin

— Rhine Salmon

—Shannon Salmon

— Tay Salmon, Kin

fauns

— Rhine Salmon

5'i

— Tay Salmon

— Wye Salmon

— Shannon Salmon

— W3e Salmon

44 i

10-J

— Tay Salmon, Kin

fauns

Mr. Buckland draws attention to the fact that a great number of our cathedral towns
stand upon rivers in which Salmon either now exist or from which they have disappeared.
"When monasteries were first established, previous to cathedrals themselves being built, the
founders selected sheltered spots where, for the most part, they could get a plentiful supply
of fresh-water fish, especially Salmon, for the use of the table on fast-days." — (P. 341)

Formerly Salmon were more or less abundant in the Thames; between the years 1794 and
182 1, according to a record published in Land and Water (iii. No. 58), seven thousand three
hundred and forty-six pounds weight were taken. Even now, says Giinther, "almost every
year Salmon and Sea-trout in the grilse state make their appearance at the mouth of the
Thames (where the migratory Salmonoids have become extinct for many years) ready to ascend
and to restock this river as soon as its poisoned water shall be sufficiently purified to allow
them a passage." — (P. 10.)

Every one who happens to be in London in the month of November must have viewed
with wonder the magnificent Salmon of many pounds weight and of bright silvery hue, ex-
posed for sale on the slabs of the fishmongers' shops. According to our Salmon laws it is
illegal to take or expose for sale any Salmon between the 2nd. of November and the ist.
of February. Of course, therefore, these must be foreign fish ; they come from the Rhine, not
a great way from Rotterdam. The following short account of the Rhine fisheries, given by
Mr. Buckland, is interesting: — "Mr. D. Van Elst, who lives at Rotterdam, holds a lease from
the government of the fisheries on the Maas, the only one of the three mouths of the Rhine
through which Salmon migrate. The principal fishing station is at Orange Nassau, about
fourteen miles from the sea; the river is here about nine hundred yards in width, and the
nets used are about eight hundred yards long, thirty feet in depth, and the meshes two and

* Yarrell mentions a Salmon in the possession of Mr. Groves, (now Crump,) of Bond Street, London, that weighed
eighty-three pounds, — this was in 1821 ; "flesh fine in colour, and of excellent quality."

SALMON.

half inches from knot to knot, or nearly ten inches in circumference. This gigantic net is
worked by a steamer of twelve horse power and a windlass driven by two horses on shore ;
the fish are not at once killed, but are kept alive in a well-boat, which is towed to Kralingen,
three miles from Rotterdam, and there sold alive to the merchants. There are five private
fishing stations above Rotterdam : three are worked by steamers and horses. The nets are only
worked during the ebb tide." These Rhine fish are in splendid condition, often weighing
forty, fifty, and sometimes sixty pounds. The sandy tracts which compose the coast of Hol-
land abound with Smelts and Sand-eels; even, it is said, the fields are manured with them;
on these favourite fish the Salmon feed, and on these they fatten, and thus grow into the
"gigantic and plump" fish which in the month of November may be seen in the London
fish shops.

The female Salmon is mature when about fifteen inches long ; the male, however, as we
have seen, may be mature when in the smolt stage, and about six or seven inches long. The
prseoperculum in the Salmon has a distinct lower limb, and the angle rounded ; the maxillary,
which in mature specimens is slender and rather feeble, is stout and broad in young ones ; it
extends to a little below the posterior margin of the orbit, but in the parr state only to the
middle of the eye ; the head of the vomer is toothless, the single series of small teeth on the
body of the vomer is at an early age lost from behind towards the front, so that half-grown
and old examples have only a few (trom one to four) left. The caudal fin is deeply cleft in
young specimens of twenty-eight inches in length, being truncate only in very large examples
during or after spawning. (See plate of male Salmon ) The hind part of the body is elongate
and covered with relatively large scales, there bci7ig coiistantlv eleven or sometimes hvelve in a
transverse series obliquely forwards to the lateral line. (See Gtinther, p. 13.)

A good-sized female Salmon, caught in Bala Lake on September 28th., 1878, which I
had the opportunity of examining, had on its spawning-dress. Above the lateral line there
were numerous large black round spots, many of which were confluent, and a number of reddish
blotches or thick wavy lines ; below the lateral line the colour of the sides was yellowish pink ;
the gill-covers were yellow below, spotted and lined w'ith brown and red blotches ; the tail
square, with pale oblong pinkish brown spots ; the upper part of the head was bluish with
an olive tint.

Out of a number of Salmon parr or smolts caught by me on the i6th. of April, 1878,
with a fly — of course I had the permission from the Severn Board of Conservators — the
largest specimen measured six inches and seven tenths from end of the snout to the point
of bifurcation of the tail ; the smallest caught was four inches and two fifths in length. The
dorsal fin of the larger example was dark clouded in the upper portion, the margin of the
first ray nearly black, on the lower portion there were four or five dark spots ; the pectorals
were streaked longitudinally with dark lines, very dusky; the ventrals and anal nearly white;
the marginal extremity of the caudal fin was dusky; the lateral line slightly descending at
first, then straight to the middle of the tail ; adipose fin membranous, dusky, quite free from
a red tinge. Above the lateral line the whole colour of the back steel blue with purplish
tinge, below lateral line silvery white ; above and below the lateral line were a number of
small round red spots ; but these spots are variable in different individuals. In the smaller
specimens the parr marks were broad and distinct ; in large ones they were less apparent.
The specimens of all I examined were full of insect and larval food.

If the reader would form any idea of the beautiful colour of a male Salmon in the
breeding state, he should consult plate vii. in Sir William Jardine's Illustrations of Seotch
SalmotiidcE.

A Salmon in its young state, from one to two years old, is commonly called a parr, pink,
smolt or smelt, and samlet ; it has, however, many more names, such as brandling or brondling,

92 SALMON.

fingerling, black-tip, blue-fin, scad, shed, gravelling, last-brood, hepper, last-spring, spawn,
skirling or scarling, fry ; many of these however include the young of other migratory Sahnonidcc.
In some parts of Ireland, as at Lough Melvin, a Salmon parr is called a Jenkins. The term
grilse or Salmon-peal denotes a fish on its first return from the sea; the former word is
probably a corruption of the Swedish gmelax, "a grey lax," i.e. "a grey Salmon." Kelt applies
to a Salmon, whether male or female, after spawning, but the male is also specially dis-
tinguished by the term kipper; the female is called shedder or baggit.
The fin-ray formula of the Salmon is

Dorsal 14.
Pectoral 14.
Ventral 9.
Anal 1 1 .

The figure of the adult male fish is from a specimen which weighed twenty-four pounds
and three quarters.

The Grilse, or young Salmon, is from a specimen weighing seven pounds.
The figure of the Parr is on the plate with the Smelt.

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